Big Upset for Congress, Delhi HC Rejects Plea against Tax Reassessment Proceedings

The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected the Congress party’s petitions challenging the reassessment proceedings initiated against it by the Income Tax (IT) Department.

A division bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, while delivering the verdict, stated, “We dismiss the writ petitions.”

The high court had reserved its decision on March 20 regarding the petitions filed by the political party against the tax reassessment proceedings launched by the authorities for three consecutive years: 2014-15, 2015-16, and 2016-17.

The party has challenged the reassessment proceedings, arguing that they were time-barred.

Appearing for the Congress party, Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi contended that tax reassessment proceedings are restricted by limitation, with the Income Tax Department permitted to revisit a maximum of six assessment years. However, the Income Tax department countered, asserting that there was no breach of any statutory provision by the tax authority and that, based on the material recovered, the party’s “escaped” income amounts to over Rs 520 crore.

Recently, the high court declined to intervene with the decision of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, which refused to halt a notice issued by the Income Tax department to the Congress for the recovery of outstanding tax exceeding Rs 100 crore. The assessing officer had raised a tax demand of over Rs 100 crore for the assessment year 2018-19, when the income was assessed to be over Rs 199 crore.