Mala fide intention behind I-T reassessment notice: Sonia Gandhi tells HC
New Delhi, Aug 14 : Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that the Income Tax department had mala fide intention in sending the reassessment notice to the Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YI).
Sonia Gandhi's counsel and senior advocate P. Chidambaram told a bench of Justice S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice A.K. Chawla that she has not earned any income as a shareholder of Young India Pvt Ltd which acquired Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publishers of the erstwhile English daily National Herald.
The court was hearing the plea of Sonia Gandhi and her party colleague Oscar Fernandes against March 31 I-T notice seeking tax reassessment.
The I-T department had issued notice to Sonia Gandhi and Fernandes on for allegedly not disclosing their income earned through YI in the year 2011-2012.
"I received nothing from Young India except for the shares that I bought," Sonia Gandhi's counsel told the court arguing that she has filed a correct tax return in the year 2011-12.
Last week, Rahul Gandhi moved the court challenging a notice issued against him by the I-T Department seeking to re-open his tax assessment for the financial year 2011-12.
Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia are major stakeholders of Young India.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing the I-T department has told the court that the tax department has re-opened the tax assessment against Rahul Gandhi as he has suppressed information that he was a director of Young India.
The bench has listed the matter for further hearing on August 16. Income Tax will counter the submission of the Congress leaders.
Earlier in March, Young India requested the court to stay the recovery of tax and interest of Rs 249.15 crore raised in pursuance to a December 27, 2017 notice issued under section 156 of the IT Act for the assessment year 2011-12.
The company has submitted that it is a charitable firm and does not have any income and that Income Tax authorities have wrongly raised a demand of Rs 249 crore for the assessment year 2011-12.
On March 19, the Delhi High Court directed Young India to deposit Rs 10 crore in the Rs 249.15 crore income tax proceedings against the firm.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy had filed a complaint of "cheating" in the acquisition of AJL.
Swamy had accused them of allegedly conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying only Rs 50 lakh, by which Young India Pvt Ltd obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore which AJL owed to the Congress.
The other accused in the case are Motilal Vora, Suman Dubey, Sam Pitroda and Young India.
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Siddaramaiah will continue as K'taka CM under 'current situation': Minister Parameshwara
Mysuru (PTI): Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Monday asserted that Siddaramaiah will continue as the Chief Minister for the full five-year term under the "current situation".
He, however, maintained that any decision regarding the leadership change rests solely with the Congress high command.
"We don't know anything (about leadership change). Who said there will be a change? Who will change? The AICC has to do it. Since they haven't said anything, should we keep guessing? When they want to make changes, the high command will say so; they might not make any changes either," Parameshwara told reporters.
Asked if Siddaramaiah will continue as Chief Minister, he said, "Of course, he will, why shouldn't he? Siddaramaiah will continue under the current situation."
"If Siddaramaiah cannot continue, I'm not the one to say; it will not happen just because Parameshwara says so; the high command has to say," he added.
Amid the ongoing power tussle within the ruling Congress in Karnataka, Siddaramaiah recently asserted that the party's government will remain in power for two more years and that he is the Chief Minister of the state.
The leadership tussle within the ruling party has intensified amid speculation about a possible change of chief minister after the Congress government completed the halfway mark of its five-year term on November 20, 2025.
The speculation has been fuelled by the reported "power-sharing" arrangement between Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar at the time of government formation in 2023.
To a query about Shivakumar's aspirations to become the CM, the Home Minister said, "... He is our party state president, our senior leader and the Deputy Chief Minister. Who has to make him the Chief Minister? The high command has to respond, what they say is final. Let's wait until then."
In response to a question on the leadership issue causing a lot of confusion, Parameshwara asked, "Who created confusion? Did the Congress high command do it?"
Recalling that there was no explicit declaration in 2013 that Siddaramaiah would serve as the CM for five years, but he successfully completed his term until 2018, he said, "When Siddaramaiah was made CM in 2023, he has to be there for the full term. If he will not be there for the full term, high command has to decide."
Clarifying that the results of the upcoming by-polls in Bagalkote and Davanagere South will have no bearing on the CM's position, the senior Minister said, "Why should they be linked? Has anyone said there will be a change? Leave the BJP aside, we don't want their assessment. Should we run the administration based on what the BJP says?"
"There may be some discussion regarding a change in our party, but I'm not ready to say that there will be changes after the bypolls. Others can make their own personal assessments," he added.
Bypolls for the Bagalkot and Davanagere South Assembly constituencies will be held on April 9. The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs H Y Meti and Shamanur Shivashankarappa, respectively.
BJP MP and former CM Basavaraj Bommai recently said that the ongoing power tussle within the ruling Congress has taken a "short break" because of bypolls, and claimed that the state will witness a "political wrestling" for the Chief Minister's chair in May.
