The Delhi High Court on March 11 posted for hearing on March 12 a petition by the Congress party challenging an order by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) refusing to grant stay on a notice issued by the tax department for recovery of outstanding tax of more than ₹105 crore.
In the morning, the matter was mentioned by senior advocate Vivek Tankha, representing Congress party, before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela.
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Mr. Tankha argued it was an urgent matter as the accounts of the political party have been frozen. The party had earlier questioned the timing of the freezing of its funds as it came ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress approached the high court after the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) on March 8 dismissed the party’s application seeking a stay on the February 13 notice of the Income Tax Department initiating recovery proceedings against it.
Untimely demand
The ITAT had dismissed the stay application saying that “…we do not find that the recovery notice under Section 226(3) of the Act issued by the assessing officer on February 13, 2024 is lacking in bona fides, so as to require us to intervene”.
The assessing officer had raised a tax demand of more than ₹105 crore for the assessment year 2018-19 when the income was assessed to be more than ₹199 crore.
Before the ITAT, the Congress’ counsel had contended that the initiation of recovery proceedings under the Income Tax Act on February 13 are so timed that the assessee would not be left with enough resources to contest the parliamentary elections.
The Income Tax Department had responded that the assessing officer has proceeded in accordance with the due process of law.
