Day after Congress said it has been asked to pay over Rs 1,800 crore in penalty by the income tax department, senior leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday revealed that the party has received two more income tax notices.
Addressing a press conference, Ramesh said, “Two more notices were sent to us last night.” The grand old party on Friday received a Rs 1,823-crore notice from the I-T department after the Delhi high court dismissed Congress’ petition challenging the tax notices.
The notice is for assessment years 2017-18 to 2020-21 and includes penalty and interest. Congress claimed that it is already facing a funds crunch after Income Tax authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 200 crore and froze its funds.
The party has not received any relief from the high court in the case. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that it will move the Supreme Court next week regarding the issue.
Reacting to fresh notices, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said, “Rahul Gandhi and Congress think that the first family is above the Constitution. So break the law, break the Constitution, loot and when the loot is caught, lie and play the victim card to create pressure. It has become clear that you (Congress) have evaded taxes. It has become the mentality and character of Congress that the law of the common man does not apply to us.”
A report by news agency PTI quoted sources as saying that the Congress lost income tax exemption in 2018-19 due to extensive use of cash in the electoral process.
Sources justified that Rs 135 crore tax recovery from the party was consistent with the provisions of the Income Tax Act.
Based on incriminating material seized by the Income Tax Department during search operations, specifically in April 2019, reflecting extensive use of cash in the electoral process, assessments of the party were reopened for seven years (AY 2014-15 to AY 2020-21), sources added
Following the assessment, demand was raised in 2021, and communications to pay demand were sent many times, they said, adding that stay applications filed by the assessee were rejected during the proceedings. Subsequently, even after 33 months of the assessment order and 10 months of the Commissioner Income Tax (Appeal) order, when the assessee had not complied with the demand raised, recovery proceedings under Section 226(3) of the Act were undertaken, sources said.
As a result, recovery proceedings to an extent of around Rs 135 crore of outstanding demand were initiated as per provisions of the Act, as the plea for stay was rejected by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and Delhi High Court. Accordingly, recovery of Rs 135 crore has been made as per provisions of the IT Act, 1961, sources said.
However, the recovery process has not gone down well with the principal opposition party, as Congress has termed the action by the Department as “tax terrorism”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-led Centre on Friday of misusing institutions like the income-tax department, ED and CBI to subvert democracy and belittle the Constitution, and asked why is the I-T department being used as a weapon to harass the principal opposition party.
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