New Delhi, Nov 15:
The Delhi High Court on Thursday adjourned hearing in the National Herald case involving Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia and some party leaders till November 22. According to the news agency ANI, the high
National Herald
court also directed that complete status quo be maintained till the next date of hearing in the case. The Delhi High Court ruling came days after the Supreme Court fixed December 4 for final arguments on pleas filed by Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia against the Delhi High Court order for re-opening of their income tax assessments in the National Herald case. The Delhi HC had refused to give them relief in a case of re-opening of their tax assessments for 2011-12. The apex court did not issue any notice on their petitions as the Income Tax department was represented by its counsel. The Income Tax department had filed a caveat in the apex court that it should be heard in case an appeal is filed against the high court order. After a brief hearing, a bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and SA Abdul Nazeer said, “Since the respondent (Income Tax department) has made an appearance, we are not issuing a formal notice. However, we are fixing the matter for final arguments on December 4”. The appeals were filed by Rahul, Sonia and veteran Congress leader Oscar Fernandes, who have challenged the September 10 verdict of the high court. The income tax probe against the Congress leaders has arisen from the investigation into the private criminal complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy before a trial court in connection with the National Herald case, in which the trio is out on bail.
Sonia and Rahul were granted bail in the case by the trial court on December 19, 2015.
In the complaint before the trial court, Sonia, Rahul and others have been accused of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying just Rs 50 lakh, through which Young Indian (YI), the not-for-profit organisation, had obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that the Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) owed to the Congress party.
It was alleged that YI, which was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of Rs 50 lakh, had acquired almost all shareholdings of the AJL, which was running the National Herald newspaper.
In this process, YI had also acquired AJL’s debt of Rs 90 crore.
The tax department had said the shares Rahul has in YI would lead him to have an income of Rs 154 crore and not about Rs 68 lakh, as was assessed earlier.
It has already issued a demand notice for Rs 249.15 crore to YI for the assessment year 2011-12.
The department’s move followed its probe on a complaint alleging that the Gandhis had misappropriated AJL’s assets while transferring their shares to the newly formed YI.
The high court had noted in its September 10 order that the premise of the reassessment notices was that the non-disclosure of the taxing event– allotment of shares of YI– deprived the assessing officer of the opportunity to look into the records.
It had said that in Rahul’s case, the non-disclosure of share acquisition constituted tangible material justifying reassessment.
In case of Sonia and Oscar, the bench said returns filed by them were processed under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act, which pertains to ‘Notice or intimation’, and are not treated as “assessments”.
