Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is backing the proposed changes to the Income Tax Act with retrospective effect, which could once again open the Vodafone tax case making company liable to pay about Rs 11,000 crore as tax for an acquisition deal.

“First the Supreme Court told in the Vodafone case that it has to be clearly indicated the intention of the legislature how it is going to tax. We came to the conclusion that we will not be able to tax on Indian assets purchased outside the country,” Mr. Mukherjee said. He was speaking at a organized by the organized by Calcutta Chamber of Commerce.

Vodafone Group is planning its move over the tax claims as the government moves to change laws that will make the company liable to pay more than $2 billion in taxes.

The country’s highest court has said in a ruling that the British telecom giant has no dues to pay to the Indian taxation authorities. The company’s court victory in a case, lasting more than four years, came as the Supreme Court dismissed the government’s demand for $2.2 billion in taxes from Vodafone for its acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd’s India operations in 2007.

A Vodafone spokesman has said that the changes proposed by the government aims to apply tax liabilities on a retrospective basis, something that did not exist in the India law at the time if the acquisition of Hutchison’s share in the India based telecom operations.

Mukherjee has introduced a proposal in the Finance Bill that affects the way foreign companies are taxed for dealing with Indian assets. Many believe that the proposal could result in opening up of the Vodafone tax case.