Delhi High Court dismisses Congress’ plea against income tax reassessment proceedings
The court said that the IT Department “appears to have collated substantial and concrete evidence warranting further scrutiny” under the Income Tax Act.
The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed petitions filed by the Congress against the income tax reassessment proceedings that have been initiated against it by the Income Tax Department for the financial years 2014-’15, 2015-’16 and 2016-’17, reported Live Law.
A division bench of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said that the Income Tax Department “appears to have collated substantial and concrete evidence warranting further scrutiny and examination” under the Income Tax Act.
The bench also remarked that the Congress had approached it at the “proverbial fag end of the proceedings”. The Income Tax Department’s reassessment is scheduled to be completed by March 31.
The Congress said on Thursday that the Income Tax department had frozen all its bank accounts ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Delhi High Court had on March 13 upheld an Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order from March 8 that refused to stay the Income Tax Department’s notice for the recovery of an outstanding tax amount of Rs 100 crore from the Congress for the financial year 2015-’16.
On March 19, the party had approached the Delhi High Court again, challenging the Income Tax Department’s order to reopen assessment proceedings for the financial years 2014-’15, 2015-’16 and 2016-’17.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the Congress, challenged the proceedings under Section 153C of the Income Tax Act, which pertains to the assessment of the income of any person or party.
Singhvi said that the section would have, at best, allowed for a reassessment of the Congress’ tax records for the years 2017-’18 to 2020-’21. He said that the three additional fiscal years of 2014-’15, 2015-’16 and 2016-’17 would be “barred by limitation”.
Advocate Zoheb Hossain, representing the Income Tax Department, said that there was no violation of any statutory provision in his client’s action. He added that approximately Rs 520 crore of the Congress’ income between 2014-’15 and 2020-’21 had “escaped assessment”.
The court has reserved its verdict in the matter.
