No coercive action against Congress over tax demand notices in view of LS polls: I-T department to SC

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‘No coercive action’

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 ₹3,500 crore.

The Congress on Sunday said it has received fresh notices from the Income Tax department, raising a tax demand of ₹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 ₹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 ₹1,823 crore. The tax authorities have already withdrawn ₹135 crore from the party’s accounts for a tax demand relating to previous years.

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