Supreme Court quashes I-T case against NDTV

04/04/2020, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

In a major relief for New Delhi Television Limited (NDTV), the Supreme Court on Friday quashed an income tax re-assessment notice issued by revenue authorities against the premier news broadcasting company.

Though the Income Tax department had accused NDTV of “round-tripping” finances in connection with a July 2007 issuance of step-up coupon bonds amounting to $100 million through its U.K. subsidiary, the Supreme Court stood firm to hold that the revenue authorities failed to show that the channel did not make a “full and true” disclosure of its income for the assessment year 2008-09.

“In our view the assessee (NDTV) disclosed all the primary facts necessary for assessment of its case to the assessing officer. What the revenue urges is that the assessee did not make a full and true disclosure of certain other facts… We are of the view that the assessee had disclosed all primary facts before the assessing officer and it was not required to give any further assistance to the assessing officer by disclosure of other facts. It was for the assessing officer at this stage to decide what inference should be drawn from the facts of the case,” the Supreme Court Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Deepak Gupta held in its judgment.

The court held that NDTV had disclosed the fact “that step-up coupon bonds for $100 million were issued by NNPLC (the U.K. subsidiary).

However, the court found that the Revenue had sufficient reasons to believe that undisclosed income of the assessee escaped assessment, and therefore, there were grounds to issue the notice in question.