British telecom giant Vodafone has reportedly moved The Hague-based International Court of Justice, seeking appointment of a judge to preside over an arbitration over its £1.42 billion tax case. The move came after arbitrators appointed by it and the government of India failed to reach a consensus on selection of a neutral presiding judge of the three-member panel.
Vodafone in 2013 had invoked the India-Netherlands bilateral investment treaty, seeking a resolution to the tax demand imposed on it by enacting a tax law with retrospective effect to sidestep a Supreme Court judgment that went in the company's favour. Conciliatory proceedings were initiated but differences led to a breakdown, following which arbitration was initiated. The government had in June 2014 appointed former Chief Justice of India R C Lahoti as arbitrator, while Vodafone named Canadian trial lawyer Yves Fortier as its choice. The two later agreed on Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of the ICJ as the presiding arbitrator. Lahoti recused himself from the case in May 2015 and a month later Yusuf, too, declined to be part of the panel. Thereafter, India in July last year named Costa Rica-based lawyer Rodrigo Oreamuno to arbitrate on its behalf.
