CHENNAI: The second bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Income Tax department to ascertain by September 26 whether there was any legal heir or will executed by former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa before her death on December 5, 2016.
The bench of Justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and K Kalyanasundaram gave the direction, when the appeal from the IT department challenging the order of its Appellate Tribunal in condoning the delay of 2,255 days and setting aside the revision order of the Commissioner of Wealth Tax, came up for hearing on Monday.
The matter relates to the wealth-tax assessment for 1997-98 which was not submitted by Jayalalithaa.he department first made an order of determining the net wealth at `4.67 crore on March 27, 2000.
However, based on the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption’s investigation, the wealth tax officials found that the value submitted in the assessment by Jayalalithaa was erroneous. The value of gold and silver jewels worth about `3.83 crore were shown as `1.85 crore. The investment in the construction of the residential property at Poes Garden at `58.52 lakh and the construction of the farmhouse at Hyderabad by spending `11.72 lakh were not shown.
Challenging the revised assessment after a delay of 2,255 days, the former CM filed an appeal before the ITAT which had condoned the delay and allowed the appeal. Challenging the order, the IT department has filed the present appeal.