New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Monday listed, for Tuesday, the Congress’s petition contesting the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal’s (ITAT) order rejecting its plea for a stay on outstanding tax recovery for the assessment year 2018-19.
The matter was listed before Justices Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, who put up the matter to be heard on Tuesday, saying that they need to go through the documents.
Earlier in the day, a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela agreed to an expedited hearing and listed Congress’ plea before the above-mentioned bench.
The Congress is challenging the ITAT’s decision which led to the freezing of its accounts, amidst an ongoing appeal.
On February 16, the Congress announced that its bank accounts had been frozen by the Income Tax Department in connection with the tax demand dispute. Labelling the action as “an attack on democracy”, the party had said that the move comes at a critical juncture ahead of the impending Lok Sabha elections.
The tax dispute arose after the party’s income for the 2018-19 assessment year was assessed at Rs 1,99,15,26,560, then the nil income it declared, resulting in a tax demand of Rs 1,05,17,29,635.
The bone of contention lies in the denial of exemption under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, based on two grounds. Firstly, the tax return filed on February 2, 2019, was deemed late according to the prescribed deadline. Secondly, the Congress was found to have accepted cash donations amounting to Rs 14,49,000 from various individuals, breaching the Rs 2,000 limit per donation.
The ITAT, in dismissing the Congress’s stay plea, had said that violation of the mandatory conditions outlined in Section 13A leaves no room for discretion by the income tax authorities in granting the exemption. The Tribunal has also noted that the sequence of events, from the assessment order dated July 6, 2021, to the issuance of a recovery notice on February 13 did not suggest any undue haste in the recovery proceedings.
The party had also claimed that the Income Tax Department had “undemocratically” withdrawn Rs 65 crore from its accounts across various banks. This action was taken despite the case being sub judice, according to the party’s statements. The Congress revealed that funds collected through crowdfunding have also been frozen by tax authorities.
–IANS
spr/vd
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by TodayIndia.news and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of TodayIndia.news We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, TodayIndia.news takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
