Amarinder Singh has no right to claim confidentiality of documents in FEMA violation case: I-T dept to HC

Response came on a plea of Amarinder and his son they filed challenging a Ludhiana court order allowing ED to inspect files pertaining to income tax cases

The income tax department has told the Punjab and Haryana high court that former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh “has no right in statute or equity” to claim privilege or confidentiality over the documents which the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wanted to go through in a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation case.

Former Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh

“ ..Merely because the documents for which inspection is sought may pertain to the petitioner does not ipso fact mean that his substantive right stands to get affected... no right or liability of the petitioner will be affected by the order permitting ED to inspect court files,” the I-T department says in an affidavit filed in the HC, adding that both the trial court and then revisional court have rightly treated the application for inspection as a matter between the court and the ED.

The response came on a plea of the former CM and his son Raninder Singh that they filed on September 8 challenging the Ludhiana court order allowing the ED to inspect files pertaining to income tax cases against them in a Ludhiana court. The high court on September 8 had stayed the September 2 order observing that the I-T department’s complaint is based on information received under the convention with the French government and there are restrictions on the sharing of the same. So prima facie, the ED would not be entitled to the information in view of the apparent legal bar, it had observed.

On Amarinder’s argument that there is an agreement with France as per which information on income tax could only be shared with persons or authorities involved in the assessment or collection of taxes and not with any other party, the I-T department said the treaties referred by him do not create any vested right in his favour and that the issue was not raised in the revisional court and cannot be raised for the first time in the high court.

The department has also referred to the high court rules on inspection of court records. The revisional court had identified the rules on the basis of which inspection of court files could be allowed, the department said.

The department had filed criminal complaints against Amarinder and his son in 2016 in a Ludhiana court, saying the two were beneficiaries of foreign assets maintained and controlled through business entities and also of foreign bank accounts maintained with a bank in Geneva. The department had also alleged that they made false statements.

The department accused them of tax evasion and allegedly amassing wealth in other countries. It was in this case that the ED had moved an application seeking inspection of files in a FEMA violation case being probed by the agency.

The matter has been adjourned for January 19. The ED is yet to respond to the plea.