KATHMANDU, MAY 12

All eight writ petitions filed by the internet service providing company Worldlink Communications against the government were scrapped by the Supreme Court (SC) on Sunday.

A division bench of Justices Hari Prasad Phuyal and Dr. Nahakul Subedi refused Worldlink's claim by scrapping the petitions. With the SC's move, the government can now collect royalty revenue and Rural Telecommunications Development Fees (RTDF) from Worldlink Communications.

Likewise, billions of rupees are likely to be added to the state coffers after the SC verdict. Since the fiscal year 2072/073 BS, the Office of the Auditor General had pointed out that the government should collect royalty revenue from the internet service providers (ISPs), as such money was not received in the state coffers.

From a research study of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology carried out last year, the ISPs, including Worldlink Communications, were found to have evaded tax.

The Ministry formed a study team led by Joint Secretary Gaurav Giri to probe into tax evasion from ISPs.

As pointed out by the study team, nine ISPs have to pay Rs 3.64 billion in royalty revenue and Rural Telecommunications Development Fees to the government. Under the headings, Worldlink Communications has to pay Rs 1.96 billion.