March- 29, Congress’ financial woes worsened in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, with tax authorities issuing a notice handing out around Rs 1,700 crore to the party. Hours after the Delhi High Court dismissed the party’s challenge against the four-year revaluation process, a notice was issued.
The Income Tax Department has served a notice of Rs 1,700 crore with penalty and interest for assessment years 2017-18 and 2020-21.
Arguing the case in the Delhi High Court and seeking a stay on the revaluation process, Congress MP and lawyer Vivek Tanka argued that the demand notice was served without any valuation order. He claimed the move was aimed at economically strangling India’s main opposition party during national elections.
On Thursday, a bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav rejected the Congress’ plea for initiating tax reassessment proceedings with a time limit of four years. The two-judge panel said the application was dismissed in view of its previous decision refusing to intervene to initiate a further period of re-evaluation.
Congress is already facing a cash crunch after the income tax authorities imposed a penalty of Rs 210 crore and frozen its funds.