E-Paper
HC stays Ludhiana court order on ED inspecting I-T case files of Punjab CM
Ludhiana court order of last week allowed the Enforcement Directorate to inspect I-T cases files of Punjab CM and his son, Raninder Singh
Chandigarh The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday stayed a Ludhiana court order of last week, allowing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to inspect files pertaining to income tax cases, going on against chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and his son, Raninder Singh.
Acting on the pleas from the CM and his son, the bench of justice GS Sandhawalia passed the order, observing that the I-T complaint is based on information which has been received under the convention (with 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.
On September 2, the court of additional district sessions judge, Ludhiana, had dismissed the plea from Amarinder and his son, challenging a lower court order of September 2020 that allowed the ED to inspect the files.
The I-T department had filed criminal complaints against them in 2016 before a Ludhiana court. According to the department, both 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 and wilfully omitted, giving the required information(does it read ok) to it. The department has 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.
Earlier, the CM’s counsel had argued 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. It was also argued that as per the 2011 communication from income tax to the French authorities, it was assured that information would be kept secret and not used for other than taxation purposes, and will be handled strictly as per the rules of confidentiality. “Hence, the trial court order requires a re-look,” the counsel added.
The I-T department told the court that these issues were never raised before, also pointed out that they have not put in appearance in the complaint case by IT. Hence, stay order be not passed. The department also brought to notice of the court that probes against legislators are being monitored by Supreme Court and same had to be expedited.
The court, however, was of the view that if there was no such bar on sharing information, the ED could have easily obtained the same from I-T department as both are under the control of the Union finance ministry. It also observed that the information was available in court records and there was no such tearing hurry, which would require the ED to get its hands on it immediately.
The court has sought response from the ED and the I-T by October 4, clarifying that the petitioners need not appear before the trial court. It has also summoned original record of the case.
