The Bombay High Court has directed the income tax department to refund Rs 788.39 crore to Vodafone Idea Ltd. (VIL) within three weeks, bringing some relief to the loss-making telecom operator which has also sought the government’s help to ease its financial stress. The refund order – more than Rs 630 crore due to Vodafone India and over Rs 150 crore to Idea Cellular – was issued by the court last week. The tussle between the telco – formed following the August 2018 merger of Vodafone Idea and Idea Cellular – and the IT department erupted from the assessment order for 2017-2018 financial year, when the two companies together suffered losses of more than Rs 6,600 crore. The IT department had held back the refund on the grounds that they had declared income of nearly Rs 287 crore during the assessment year 2016-2017 but incurred a big loss the next year, and therefore their returns for 2017-2018 should be investigated.