No coercive action against Cong over tax demand notices in view of LS polls: I-T dept to SC
New Delhi, Apr 1: The Income Tax department on Monday told the Supreme Court that it will not take any coercive action against the Congress over the tax demand notices of approximately Rs 3,500 crore in view of the Lok Sabha elections.
A bench of Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Augustine George Masih recorded the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the I-T department, that no precipitative action will be taken in the prevailing circumstances till the final adjudication of the matter.
The bench posted the Congress' plea against the tax demand notices for July.
At the outset, Mehta said, "I want to make a statement in this matter. The Congress is a political party and since elections are going on, we are not going to take any coercive action against the party."
The department is not commenting on the merit of the matter and all rights and contentions should be left open, he said.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for the Congress appreciated the gesture, terming it "gracious", and said all demand notices were issued in March and before for different years totalling approximately Rs 3,500 crore.
The Congress on Sunday said it has received fresh notices from the Income Tax department, raising a tax demand of Rs 1,745 crore for the assessment years 2014-15 to 2016-17. With this latest notice, the Income Tax department has raised a total demand of Rs 3,567 crore from the party, it had said.
On Friday the party said it received notices from the I-T department, asking it to pay around Rs 1,823 crore. The tax authorities have already withdrawn Rs 135 crore from the party's accounts for a tax demand relating to previous years.
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Mumbai family deaths: FDA finds no watermelon vendor in area to check for affected stock
Mumbai (PTI): The Food and Drug Administration team probing the cause of death of four members of a family in south Mumbai's JJ Marg area have not been able to zero in on any watermelon vendor in the vicinity to check if the fruit had a role to play in the ill-fated incident, an official said on Thursday.
The Dokadia family, residents of Ghari Mohalla on Ismail Kurte Road, had hosted a get-together of relatives on the night of April 25. At around 1 am, hours after the guests had left, Abdullah Dokadia (40), his wife Nasreen (35), and daughters Ayesha (16) and Zaineb (13) ate pieces of a watermelon.
They suffered severe bouts of vomiting and diarrhoea in the early hours of April 26 and were rushed to a local hospital before being referred to the government-run J J Hospital where all four died during treatment.
"The FDA team visited the house of Dokadia and collected samples of chicken pulao and watermelon pieces. After two days, the leftover chicken pulao had developed fungus growth. The team also tried to locate watermelon vendors to check for any affected lots," he said.
But no vendors were found in the area for the past two days, preventing the FDA team from getting samples, the official added.
The FDA has requested the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to share the report on the food samples collected by them, he added.
A senior Mumbai police official said the force is waiting for FSL reports in the case, adding that questions on presence of sedatives etc in the fruit could be answered only then.
The statements of the kin of the deceased are being recorded to ascertain if it is a case of mass suicide, and it is being checked if the Dokadia family were in debt or distressed over some issue, the police official said.
