KATHMANDU: The Supreme Court (SC) issued a writ of mandamus asking the government to collect the due applicable Capital Gains Tax (CGT) from the proprietary transfer of Ncell and its purchaser Malaysian company Axiata.

A full bench of Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana and justices Mira Khadka, Biswamber Prasad Shrestha, Dr Ananda Mohan Bhattarai, and Tanka Bahadur Moktan, issued the orders to the telecommunication company to deposit the amount.

Ncell had been facing allegations of evading profit tax while repatriating a sum of income to its home country.

It should be noted that Ncell did not make available the applicable CGT between Ncell and TeliaSonera worth Rs143 billion. Since then, Ncell, which had been in pressure, had paid Rs21 billion CGT to the government in 2018.

The SC on Wednesday issued the orders upon hearing the cases filed separately by five petitioners, including one of the then Ncell (P) Ltd shareholders Renolds Holdings, and former secretary Dwarika Dhungel.