New Delhi, Nov 13: The Supreme Court Tuesday said it would hear final arguments on December 4 on the pleas filed by Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi challenging the Delhi High Court's verdict in a case related to re-opening of their 2011-12 tax assessments.
The apex court, which observed that the matter required "consideration", did not issue formal notice on the petitions filed by Rahul, Sonia and veteran Congress leader Oscar Fernandes as the Income Tax Department was represented by its counsel.
"Since the respondent (I-T department) has put in appearance, we are not issuing a formal notice. However, we are fixing the matter for final arguments on December 4," said a bench of Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer.
Rahul, Sonia and Fernandes have challenged the September 10 judgement of the high court which had refused to give them relief in the case, giving opportunity to the I-T Department to scrutinise their records.
The matter is linked to the National Herald case in which the Congress leaders are also facing a criminal case.
During the hearing in the apex court, senior advocates P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Arvind Datar appeared for the petitioners, while Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta was representing the I-T department.
Chidambaram started his submissions by giving the background leading to the income tax case.
To this, the bench said: "We are not concerned with the background of these proceedings but the question here is about the notice (issued by the I-T department) of the re-assessment of income tax. The issue is whether the notice is valid or not. You can raise this before the assessing officer".
Chidambaram said the question was whether the reasons given in the notice were right or not.
He said that Associated Journals Ltd (AJL), publisher of the National Herald newspaper, had decided to issue nine lakh shares to Young Indian (YI), a not-for-profit organisation, and convert them into equity.
He said that some of the shares were acquired by the petitioners.
Chidambaram said YI also acquired AJL's debt of Rs 90.2 crore and this does not give rise to any income in the hands of the Gandhis and Fernandes.
"We (petitioners) were shareholders. It can never give rise to income in my hands. We do not get any income," he said.
At this juncture, the bench told Mehta, "It (matter) requires consideration."
Mehta told the bench that the premise raised by the petitioners was wrong.
To this, the bench said, "We have two options. We will issue notice but we will say that assessing officer will proceed with the assessment. However, the final decision will not be given effect to and be placed before this court.
"Second option is that we will hear the matter after two weeks and you all can assist us. The high court judgment is lengthy."
Mehta said he wanted to place on record a summary note of the case prepared by him which was also placed before the high court during adjudication of the case there.
"I would request you to kindly take it (note) on record. Please go through it and have it (matter) next week and see if it requires re-consideration," Mehta told the bench which allowed his request.
When one of the junior counsels assisting the senior advocates for the Gandhis told the court that notice should be issued on the pleas, the Solicitor General said, "notice may not be necessary. I am here".
After the court dictated the order, Mehta urged the bench not to record in the order sheet that formal notice was not being issued.
"It does not matter. Once we are saying that we will hear final arguments, it is not necessary," the bench said.
When Mehta raised the issue of limitation of time in re-assessment of income tax, the bench observed, "Then it will be better if we grant a stay. Then this time will be excluded".
To this, Mehta said that the matter be heard on December 4.
On September 10, the Gandhis and Fernandes had failed to get any relief from the high court which dismissed their challenge on re-opening of their tax assessments for 2011-12.
Denial of any relief by the high court had paved the way for the I-T department to scrutinise the Congress leaders records for the assessment year.
The income tax probe against the Congress leaders has arisen from the probe into a private criminal complaint filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy before a trial court here in connection with the National Herald case, in which the trio are out on bail.
Sonia and Rahul were granted bail in the case by the trial court on December 19, 2015.
A tax evasion petition (TEP) was also addressed to the finance minister by Swamy.
In the complaint before the trial court, Sonia, Rahul and others have been accused of conspiring to cheat and misappropriate funds by paying just Rs 50 lakh, through which YI had obtained the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore AJL owed to the Congress party.
It was alleged that YI, which was incorporated in November 2010 with a capital of Rs 50 lakh, had acquired almost all shareholdings of the AJL, which was running the National Herald newspaper.
The I-T department had said the shares Rahul has in YI would lead him to have an income of Rs 154 crore and not about Rs 68 lakh, as was assessed earlier.
It has already issued a demand notice for Rs 249.15 crore to YI for the assessment year 2011-12.
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Gayaji (PTI): A woman here has alleged that she was gang-raped inside an ambulance which drove her to a hospital after she fainted during a government recruitment test, police said on Saturday.
Two persons, identified by the complainant who had appeared at a recruitment drive for home guards, have been arrested, they said.
"When the woman fainted, on July 24, she was rushed to the Anugrah Narain Medical College and Hospital at Gayaji in an ambulance. After she regained consciousness, she alleged that she was raped inside the vehicle," said SP (Town), Gayaji Ramanand Kumar Kaushal.
"We thereafter detained the driver and a technician who were in the ambulance. The woman also identified them. Their reply was not satisfactory, so they were arrested and booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita," he added.
Kaushal said the medical examination of the complainant has been completed, and based on the findings of the reports, further action will be taken.
Meanwhile, the incident drew strong criticism from Union minister Chirag Paswan, who supports the NDA government in the state, as well as the opposition.
Before leaving for Gayaji to address a rally, Paswan told reporters in Patna, "The incident is deplorable. The guilty may have been caught, but the administration is obviously unable to prevent such crimes. The situation is scary, and I regret that I am supporting a regime that is incapable of controlling law and order."
Leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, shared on X a news clipping of the incident with the hashtag "vote out of power the Nitish Kumar government to protect the girl child (Nitish sarkar Hatao beti bachao).
The RJD leader also alleged that Bihar was under the "rule of demons (rakshas raj)" and accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and "his two so-called deputies" of a "criminal silence" on such incidents.
State Congress president Rajesh Kumar alleged, "The incident at Gayaji is reflective of a collapse in law and order, which is not surprising given the unruly behaviour of the ruling dispensation as witnessed in the recently held assembly session. Our party is committed to ensuring that the girl gets justice."