The Congress on Tuesday has approached the Delhi High Court challenging the Income Tax Department order opening reassessment proceedings against the political party.
The matter was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora by Advocate Prasanna S. The Delhi High Court allowed an urgent hearing of the matter on March 20.
Advocate Prasanna S appearing for the political party stated that reassessment proceedings for three years have begun against Congress. The High Court said that if the plea is in order by 12:30 PM, the matter will be listed on March 20.
Earlier on March 13, the Delhi High Court had dismissed a plea filed by the Congress party against an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) rejecting its plea for stay on the demand notice issued by Income Tax (IT) department for recovery of nearly Rs 105 crores in outstanding taxes.
A division bench comprising Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said there was no reason to interfere with the ITAT order. The Delhi High Court clarified that Congress can move a fresh application for a stay before the ITAT, keeping in view the developments that have occurred in the meanwhile including that an amount of Rs 65.94 crores was recovered from the party.
The IT department in February, seized the Congress’s four main bank accounts on an income tax demand of Rs 210 crore for 2018-19. The Congress approached the tribunal seeking a stay on the action of the income tax department and said the party won’t be able to pay bills and salaries if their accounts were frozen. While pending the hearing and the verdict in the case, the income tax department mandated banks to transfer more than Rs 65 crore from Congress, IYC and NSUI accounts to the government, Congress treasurer Ajay Maken alleged on February 21.