KATHMANDU, Sep 7: A parliamentary committee has decided to study all recent court decisions related to the controversial capital gains tax case to be paid by telecommunication company Ncell, following questions from various quarters after the judiciary invalidated the tax assessment by the Large Taxpayers Office (LTO) two weeks ago.
The Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of parliament on Friday decided to study the decisions including the verdicts and orders from the various courts starting from December 2017 to August 26, 2019 on the issue.
SC postpones Ncell tax case verdict yet again
The decision comes in the wake of the court order to quash a decision of the LTO to impose Rs 39 billion Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to be paid by the largest private telecom company Ncell for transfer of its ownership. Lawmaker Sanjay Gautam of the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) proposed studying the court decisions on Ncell tax issue citing questions from the public and stakeholders on the issue.
Committee Chairperson Krishna Bhakta Pokharel said that the committee will also consult the legal experts about technical and legal aspects of the court decisions before starting the task. Lawmakers said they will consult with the stakeholders about whether the committee could recommend its report to any bodies for drawing attention of the court.
“Former justices and legal experts have been questioning the court decisions at public forums. We should study the court decisions after consulting the experts,” said NC lawmaker Min Bishwakarma. However, the parliamentary committee doesn't have any jurisdiction to write to the court questioning its decisions.
On April 23, Ncell had challenged the CGT assessment made by the LTO just two days before the seven-day deadline given to pay Rs 39 billion as the balance of the CGT assessment including fines and interest.
