Serious negotiations on with investors: Kingfisher tells SC

The Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred hearing on Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher Airlines' plea challenging Karnataka High Court's order to deposit around Rs 185 crore with the income tax department as tax deducted at source (TDS) from its employees' wages.

A bench headed by Justice DK Jain deferred the hearing for four weeks after senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the airlines, submitted that "serious negotiations are going on between the company and investors".

The airlines has challenged the order of the High Court issued on December 5 directing it to deposit 50 percent of the Rs 371 crore to the I-T department. It had also asked the company to furnish bank guarantee for the remaining amount within six weeks. The company contended in its petition that the amount due is much less than the demand made by the I-T department and the department had not given it a proper opportunity to hear its case.

It said the department had issued notices without providing the company reasonable and sufficient opportunity of being heard. The department had claimed that the company had illegally withheld the revenue even after deducting the said amount from various sources, including by way of TDS.

The department, in December 2011, had demanded payment of about Rs 372 crore as TDS from the company for the assessment years 2010-11 and 2011-12 following analysis of records.