The case filed by the Income Tax Department against Nalini Chidambaram (the lawyer wife of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram), son Karti Chidambaram and daughter-in-law Srinidhi Karti Chidambaram under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Imposition of Tax Act of 2015 (known as Black Money Act 2015) took an interesting turn on Monday with the former approaching the Madras High Court with a plea to quash the June 12 order asking the department to provide the Chidambaram family with the copies of the orders sanctioning prosecution against them.
In a review petition filed by the Centre and the Department of Income Tax, it was stated that a case has been lodged before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Egmore against Nalini, Karti and Srinidhi under the Black Money Act 2015 and they could get the documents from the same court once they are summoned by the court as per the Criminal Procedure Code.
The IT Department had sanctioned prosecution of Nalini Chidambaram, Karti and Srinidhi under the Black Money Act 2015 for not disclosing details of a property purchased jointly by them at a cost of 5.35 lakh Pound Sterling at Cambridge in Britain. But Nalini and others had questioned the competence of the sanctioning authority and demanded the Department of Income Tax to furnish the copies of the administrative orders through which the prosecution was launched against them.
The first Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice P T Asha in their order dated June 12 had asked the Income Tax Department to furnish the copies of the orders passed by the department officials sanctioning prosecution against Nalini, Karti and Srinidhi.
Though the additional solicitor general G Rajagopalan had told the court that this may become a precedent for others, the Court pointed out that the case was not being stayed.
But on Monday, the Department of Income Tax through its counsel filed a petition asking the court to review the June 12 order. The petition filed by the Centre and the Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) said that the sanction orders have been filed before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Egmore where a complaint too has been lodged under the Black Money Act 2015. “The family members of the former finance minister could obtain the documents from the court after summons were issued to them in accordance with the code of Criminal Procedure ,” said the petition filed by the Centre.
The petition also stated that the Income Tax Department would be prejudiced if the family members are given copies of sanction order in advance.