"Went Off To Sleep": Delhi High Court On Congress' Late Response To Outstanding Tax Demand, No Relief On Rs 100 Crore Recovery

Delhi High Court on Wednesday (13 March) refused to give any relief to Congress as it upheld the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal's (ITAT) 8 March order demanding over Rs 100 crore from the party as outstanding tax.

Finding "no ground to interfere", the division bench of Justice Yashwant Varma and Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav denied staying ITAT's order for the assessment year 2018-19.

The bench noted that Congress "badly handled" the matter as it did not take any stand to securitise the demand even after the demand was raised in 2021 and that somebody in Congress' office "went off to sleep".

Representing the income tax authorities, Advocate Zoheb Hossain said that Congress was asked to pay 20 per cent of the demand in 2021. But since it did not do so, the entire amount becomes recoverable.

He pointed out that the original tax demand was Rs 102 crore, but it became Rs 135.06 crore by adding interest. He also suggested that the party is not facing any financial hardship.

While Hossain's claim is that Congress has over Rs 1,400 crore in its 120 bank accounts, the Congress lawyer Vivek Tankha asserted that the party has only Rs 300 crore, according to LiveLaw.

Tankha stated that the tax authorities have reopened the assessment of the last seven-eight years just before elections. Court responded on it saying that someone chose to wake up in February won't change the facts.