HC asks Congress, “Why didn’t you act on I-T demand since 2021?”

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court postponed its decision on Tuesday over a challenge by the Congress questioning tax recovery processes, but it also expressed concern about the party’s lack of action since the claim was first made in 2021.

A panel of justices, Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, said, “The demand is for 2021. It seems someone in the petitioner’s office went off to sleep,” after their consideration of the arguments presented by Congressman Vivek Tankha, a prominent counsel.

In its ruling on Wednesday, the bench hinted that it would return the case to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT). It noted that the appeals tribunal had adopted a reasonable and impartial stance.
In order to begin the process of recovering unpaid debts of more than Rs 100 crore from the party, the Congress has appealed the ITAT’s March 8 ruling, rejecting its request for a stay on the income tax department’s February 13 notice.
When the income was estimated to be more than Rs 199 crore for the assessment year 2018–19, the assessing officer submitted a tax demand of more than Rs 100 crore.
Tankha begged the court to provide some protection, claiming that the party was under extreme strain due to the freezing of its financial accounts.
The I-T department’s advocate, Zoheb Hossain, said that while Congress was offered the chance to pay 20% of the demand in 2021, it chose not to. He insisted that the whole sum becomes recoverable if the assessee declines the offer to deposit 20% of the demand.
The I-T department told the court that the first tax demand was Rs 102 crore, and that amount increased to Rs 135.06 crore with interest. It also said that the department has already recovered Rs 65.94 crore.