The government is “examining” the recent international tribunal order passed against India in the high-profile Cairn Energy plc retrospective tax case even as CBDT chairman P.C. Mody said the law that was extant at that point of time had to be enforced.

He said while the government has filed an appeal after a similar verdict was delivered against the country in the Vodafone case, it will soon come out with its decision to go in for an appeal or not in the Cairn case.

“We have already taken a decision in the case of Vodafone to go in for a further appeal. So far as Cairn is concerned, we are examining the issue and very soon we will come out with a decision on that,” the CBDT chief said.

He was asked if the ground of “taxation being a sovereign function of the government” was used to file an appeal in the Vodafone case. “Apart from sovereign function, that (retrospective taxation) was the law at that point of time... so that has to be carried out or given full effect to,” he said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) frames policy for the income tax department.

India, in December last year, has been ordered to return up to $1.4 billion to Cairn Energy after the government lost an international arbitration over the retrospective taxes.