The Madras High Court has ended the computer proceedings initiated against Karti Chidambaram and his wife
Chennai:
The Madras High Court has terminated the income tax proceedings initiated against Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, and his wife for the alleged non-disclosure of cash transactions of approximately seven rupees crore after selling a property near Chennai.
The Court, although it ruled that the action is “unsustainable and premature”, clarified that the procedure can be started again if the authority in question considers that the same is required after an adequate evaluation.
The case of the prosecution was that Karti Chidambaram, the Member of Parliament of Parliament, representing Sivaganga, and his wife Srinidhi received Rs 6.38 million and Rs 1.35 million in cash, respectively, through the sale of a land of his property near Muttukadu.
However, they had not disclosed the same in their assessment or paid income taxes.
Therefore, the IT department initiated criminal proceedings for alleged non-disclosure of income in the amount of Rs 7.73 crore for the 2015-16 fiscal year.
Challenging the same, the duo argued that the accusation can be overturned for a procedural period.
They argued that the prosecution was initiated by making a false statement, which amounts to a crime of presenting false evidence in court under the Indian Penal Code.
According to the Income Tax Law, the appraiser’s process is considered to be a civil court process and therefore only the appraiser should have started the process.
But in this case, a deputy director of investigation of the department has initiated the prosecution, they said.
By giving the department freedom to initiate criminal proceedings in accordance with the law, if it so chooses, said Judge N Sathish Kumar, the accusation initiated by the deputy director is not sustainable.
The present complaint filed by the prosecution is premature.
If the evaluating officer concludes a proceeding under Section 153 of the Income Tax Act, the Department may initiate criminal action under the law.
Judge Sathish Kumar, who issued the order on Friday, noted that unless the evaluating officer records a finding regarding a deliberate attempt to evade taxes or submit a false verification, the complaint filed by the deputy director cannot stand.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
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