Nokia India has moved to the Delhi High Court yesterday, to seek lifting of the stay order on the ownership transfer of its immovable assets in the country by December 12, 2013. The company noted that this step was taken in order to seek a fair resolution with tax officials over its long-drawn tax case in the country, as it prepares to sell all its devices & services business to Microsoft, which acquired them in September 2013. Nokia shareholders had approved this deal last week. The Delhi High Court had earlier put an interim stay on the ownership transfer of Nokia India's immovable assets and also forbidden them from transferring these assets to any third person. This was due to IT Department's claims that if Nokia transfers its ownership rights to others, the company will not have enough assets to meet the estimated tax liability of Rs 3,997 crore along with the existing tax demand of Rs 654 crore. In a statement, Nokia however had claimed to have sufficient assets in India to meet its tax obligations, details of which were expected to be shared with the tax authorities. Nokia said lifting of this asset freeze will allow the company to successfully transfer all its Indian factory assets to Microsoft by Q1 2014 (when the Microsoft-Nokia agreement is expected to close), failing which the Indian factory assets will not be transferred to Microsoft and it will create an uncertainty at its Chennai facility. Citing sources close to the company, Reuters reports that Nokia will probably be operating…
