In continuation of the Telenor-Unitech issue, Unitech has informed the Company Law Board (CLB) that arbitration was necessary to resolve the dispute.
The company has argued that Telenor had initiated the arbitration process as per the provisions of the Share Subscription Agreement. This was done to obtain indemnity. However, at the same time, the Norwegian company was rescinding the Share Holders Agreement. This, argued Unitech, was impractical, as both agreements were overlapping.
Prior to this, Telenor had criticised Unitech?s attempts to obtain arbitration on the issue.
Telenor had argued that arbitration was unnecessary, as the issue is already being heard by CLB.
This was in response to Unitech approaching CLB under the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act in this context.
Meanwhile, in a move that may have implications for the ongoing Telenor-Unitech case, the Income Tax (IT) Department has taken over the shares of Simpson Wireless, Cestos Wireless and Acrous Wireless.
Unitech obtained its stake in Uninor via these three entities. It had sold 67.25 per cent stake in Unitech Wireless (which had obtained 22 telecom licenses), to Telenor for $1.2 billion. Subsequently, the Rs 10 share was transferred at a premium to Telenor.
Also, the IT Department has informed the Company Law Board that these companies had outstanding dues of Rs 7.01 billion. The Department has said that the premium on their current stake in Uninor counted as ?capital gains?.
Responding to this, the real estate major has issued a statement saying that its group firms have approached the Commissioner of Income Tax against this order. The companies have argued that the order was based on the ?presumptive gains? on their shareholding in Unitech Wireless. The companies have also said that actual gains on the stake would be accrued only when the stake was sold.
