Income-Tax Recovery Notice: High Court Rejects Congress Plea For Stay

The Delhi High Court dismissed on Wednesday a plea by the Congress for a stay on the Income Tax Department's notice to recover over Rs 105 crore from the party.

A division bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav said there was no justification for intervening with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal's order. 

The court suggested that if circumstances change, the Congress has the option to file a suitable application before the ITAT.

During the hearing, the court heard submissions on the matter and remarked that there seemed to be no "fundamental infirmity" in the ITAT order that rejected the Congress' plea for a stay. 

On Feb. 16, the Congress revealed that its bank accounts were frozen due to the income-tax demand. Treasurer Ajay Maken, who had previously informed the media about the freezing of accounts, disclosed that the ITAT had imposed a lien on the disputed amount on the party's accounts. 

He said Congress had been granted permission to spend beyond this lien amount. Following the dismissal of the party's appeal by the ITAT, the Congress urgently approached the high court for a hearing.

Advocate Zoheb Hossain, who represented the IT Department, countered the perception that the initiation of IT proceedings just before elections was intentional, asserting that the process had been ongoing since 2021. 

He characterised the proceedings as "routine,"  emphasising that there were four years of non-payment and that the fifth year being an election year was purely coincidental.