Invest Harshad Mehta’s ₹476-crore Income-Tax refund: Bombay high court to custodian

The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the office of custodian to invest ₹476.63 crore belonging to Jyoti Mehta, wife of securities scam accused Harshad Mehta,

The Bombay high court (HC) has directed the office of custodian to invest ₹476.63 crore belonging to Jyoti Mehta, wife of securities scam accused Harshad Mehta, in State Bank of India for a year. The said amount is the outcome of an appeal filed by Jyoti against the tax recovered by the Income-Tax (I-T) department for the assessment year 1991-92.

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The Income-Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) in September upheld Mehta’s appeal and directed the I-T department to refund the amount. After the custodian confirmed the receipt and deposit of the amount in the attached account of Jyoti, at the request of Ashwin Mehta, brother of Harshad Mehta, the court directed the custodian to invest the amount in the State Bank of India.

The bench of justice AK Menon, while hearing the custodian’s report on October 4, was informed that the I-T department had refunded an amount of ₹476.63 crore after Mehta had succeeded in her appeal before the ITAT in September.

The custodian submitted that it had called for proposals from five banks and had decided to invest with SBI as their offer was the highest, after getting the go-ahead from the HC. The HC permitted the same and disposed of the custodian’s report.