Singhvi calls tax dispute sub judice, contests news report

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Singhvi has issued a statement saying a news report regarding a dispute between him and the income tax department was “misleading”, and that the matter was sub judice, HT reports.

Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Singhvi has issued a statement saying a news report regarding a dispute between him and the income tax department was “misleading”, and that the matter was sub judice.

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The news report said: The IT department has rejected Singhvi’s declaration of income for three years starting 2010-11 and Singhvi has moved the department’s Settlement Commission (SC). Singhvi disclosed an income of Rs 11 crore — earlier undeclared — and paid Rs 3.26 crore additional tax.

The report also said, the department contested Singhvi’s declaration and claimed his undeclared income to be Rs 22.86 crore, making a tax liability of R7 crore.

Singhvi said the objections of the IT department to his income assessment were currently sub judice.

“The press report, which treats some contentions of the department as final, binding or conclusive, espec-ially when the matter is sub judice, is therefore highly misleading,” Singhvi said in a statement.

According to Singhvi, the dispute is over 20 months old and an application was filed recently for conciliatory proceedings before the SC, which is a machinery for expeditious settlement of such issues.

Before the SC admits a case, the IT department is given an opportunity to oppose it.

“Exactly the same objections that the press report now seeks to disingenuously leak/ divulge were overruled by a judicial order at the stage of presentation.

A further detailed report from the IT department was then called for. Again, exactly the same allegations were made and judicially overruled while admitting the petition,” Singhvi said.

He added that the report treated contentions of the department as truth or fact, “which it obviously is not.”