The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has set up a high-level committee to scrutinise fresh cases arising out of the retrospective amendments of 2012 in respect of indirect transfers.

The four-member committee will look into all such cases coming to the notice of the assessing officer and give its views before any action is initiated by the Income-Tax Department.

The members of the committee include joint secretary (FT&TR-I), joint secretary (TPL-1) and commissioner of income-tax. The director (FT&TR-1) will be the secretary of the panel.

In his budget speech in July, finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced that all fresh cases arising out of the retrospective amendments of 2012 in respect of indirect transfer and coming to the notice of the assessing officer will be scrutinised by a high-level committee to be constituted by CBDT before any action is initiated.

“Henceforth, in all fresh cases where income on account of retrospective amendments to the provisions related to indirect transfer is considered to accrue or arise before April 1, 2012, the assessing officer shall be required to seek prior approval of any proposed action in this regard from the committee,” a finance ministry statement said.

In budget 2012-13, the then finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had proposed changes in India’s 50-year-old tax laws to impose a retrospective provision for tax on some types of international mergers including Vodafone’s 2007 acquisition of Hutchinson’s mobile assets in India for $11.1 billion (about `66,000 crore currently).