NEW DELHI: In a major setback to the Congress party, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) on Friday rejected its plea to stay action against its bank accounts. However, the party said that it would move the High Court at the earliest seeking relief.
The Congress' main bank accounts were frozen on February 16 over an Income Tax demand of Rs 210 crore for the 2018-19 FY as recovery over a 45-day delay in filing returns and cash contributions from its lawmakers.
Though senior advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha, who appeared for the Congress, requested to keep the order in abeyance for 10 days so that the party could approach the High Court, the bench refused the plea. The tribunal said that it does not have such a provision or prayer before it.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Tankha said that the party is moving the High Court at the earliest. Democracy needs to be saved to ensure a level playing field for political parties, he said.
“We are disappointed with the order of the tribunal. They have denied us the standard order. We are a national party and we very well argued our case and the case was to come for final hearing in April. They took away Rs 135 crores unceremoniously so that we were put at a disadvantage in the coming election which will be notified in a couple of days,” said Tankha.
The tribunal had earlier allowed the Congress to operate the accounts till a final decision was reached. However, the tribunal has put a lien of Rs 115 crore on its accounts and the party has been allowed to spend over and above that.
Describing the move as politically motivated, Tankha said that they were apprehensive of getting justice from the tribunal.
“I argued that it is a politically motivated move. I pity the tribunal order because anybody in the right thinking mode would have never done it. We've given logical and reasonable points to the tribunal but they did not accept any of the points. They took away our exemption under 29 C for a delay of 20 days or something. Assuming you take it away also, I'm still an income tax payee. I have an income of Rs 199 crores and an expenditure of Rs 197 crores. So the total tax component would be only Rs 60 lakhs. Instead of that they are forcing Rs 135 crores,” he said.
He also stressed that now only constitutional courts can rescue elections, democracy and political parties.
The party had earlier alleged that the Income Tax department has withdrawn Rs 65 crore from its accounts in different banks even when the case on their I-T returns for previous years is sub judice.
