Oxford University Press has just lost its charitable status in a hearing at the Delhi supreme court, a detail recorded swith great glee by Andrew Malcolm's website www.akme.btinternet.co.uk.

The OUP now owes back tax there from the 1970s. Quite apart from the fact that, in Malcolm's words, "the sums involved may yet add up to a sizeable leak in the All Souls port supply", the Delhi ruling may prompt Britain and America to look afresh at the anomalous charity status that they continue to grant the Press.

'Bookworm'

Click for the next item in the Malcolm v Oxford saga or a preceding Private Eye piece, 2nd March 2001.

Click for the INDIAN SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT. The Indian Court Archive version (contains a number of typographical errors; link takes you out of www.akme) or for the Akme (corrected) version.

Click for other similar reports: Oxford Times, Oxford Mail, The Bookseller.

Click for a photo of Oxford House, Mumbai, India, OUP's Indian HQ since 1912, now to be sold to the Taj Hotel to pay off its back tax.