Supreme Court to hear government’s petition on black money law today

Taking note of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s submission, a bench of justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna agreed to take up the matter on urgent basis. Mehta said the HC erred in staying the notification.

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear the Centre’s plea against Delhi high court’s recent order that put on hold a government notification to make the 2016 black money law operational with retrospective effect from July 2015 to book and probe offenders.

The Supreme Court will on Tuesday hear the Centre’s plea against Delhi high court’s recent order that put on hold a government notification to make the 2016 black money law operational with retrospective effect from July 2015 to book and probe offenders. (HT File)

The appeal has also questioned the HC’s interim order that stops the Income-Tax department from taking any action against VVIP chopper scam accused Gautam Khaitan who is facing a case under the black money law. The HC held that the 2016 law cannot be allowed to operate from July 2015, much before it was notified.

Taking note of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta’s submission, a bench of justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna agreed to take up the matter on urgent basis. Mehta said the HC erred in staying the notification.

The bench refused to entertain Khaitan’s lawyer’s plea to adjourn the matter by a week. He said the advocate-on-record of the matter was not available during the week. Kaul was told by the judges to mention this on Tuesday when the matter is heard.

Khaitan is one of the accused in the ₹3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. He has challenged the legality of various provisions of the black money law. Before the HC he also challenged the IT department’s January 22 order granting sanction to lodge a criminal complaint against him under section 51 of the Act, which provides for a jail term between three and 10 years if found guilty of wilfully attempting to evade tax.