The Supreme court Tuesday finalized December 4 for final arguments on petitions filed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. They had challenged the Delhi High Court order refusing to give them relief in a case of re-opening of their tax assessments for 2011-12.
A bench of justice A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer is slated to hear Rahul, Sonia, and Oscar Fernandes’ appeal. The appeal challenges the September 10 verdict of the high court.
A council had represented the Income Tax department. Because of this, the apex court did not issue any notice on their petitions.
The I-T department had filed a caveat in the apex court. It said that it should be heard in case an appeal is filed against the high court order.
A caveat is a legal procedure. An application can be filed through it, by any party to the litigation to pre-empt an ex-parte order.
After a brief hearing, the bench said, “Since respondent (Income Tax department) has put in an appearance, we are not issuing a formal notice. However, we are fixing the matter for final arguments on December 4”.
The Delhi High Court in September had rejected Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi’s plea challenging the I-T notice seeking tax reassessment for the financial year 2011-2012 in connection with the National Herald Case.
Earlier in August, Rahul Gandhi had appeared in the Delhi High Court and challenged, after the I-T department accused him of concealing his income in the years 2011-2012. The department had considered reopening Rahul’s case. This was because he did not disclose his directorship in Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YI) since 2010.
The same day, Sonia Gandhi and Oscar Fernandes, too, had moved the Delhi High Court, challenging the reopening of their assessments by the Income-Tax regarding the Young Indian- National Herald transactions.
The ‘tax file’ had then revealed that Rahul Gandhi had hidden from the Income-Tax department that he was a Director in Young India, which is the main company involved in the ‘National Herald case’. He had allegedly hidden the facts from the I-T department. Therefore a whopping amount of Rs 154.97 crore couldn’t be assessed by them. The tax file also revealed that he was also the direct beneficiary of the funds directed at ‘Young India’.
As the judiciary is tightening the strings, things are seeming to take unexpected turns for the Congress party bigwigs. The Gandhi’s seem to be getting jittery. Earlier too, we had reported how the Gandhis’ had tried to oppose the Income Tax’ investigation into the National Herald case. Congress had also earlier reportedly threatened tax officials with legal consequences for asking “irrelevant questions” during their investigations.
It is notable here that the case against the Congress president and his mother has been filed after the petition of MP and legal activist Subramanian Swamy.
