The revenue department has launched investigations under the anti-tax avoidance law, General Anti-avoidance Rule (GAAR), into companies and entities that may have used creative methods to avoid paying taxes.

A Hyderabad-based company, Ekge Retail, has received a notice in which the department has applied Section 96(1)(d) of the Income-tax Act, which deals with impermissible agreements undertaken to avoid taxation.

The company has now approached the high court for state of Telangana at Hyderabad challenging the applicability of the section for some transactions undertaken by it in 2018 and 2019. The notice was issued to the company in February 2022.