Congress moves Delhi HC against ITAT's order dismissing its plea in tax case

The Congress party on Monday moved the Delhi High Court against a recent order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) dismissing its plea against the imposition of penalties for discrepancies in certain tax returns.

Senior advocate Vivek Tankha mentioned the matter before a two-judge bench, saying that it was an urgent matter as the accounts of the grand old party were frozen. 

"This is a slightly urgent matter. This is a petition moved by Indian National Congress against ITAT order by which they have frozen our accounts and we have an appeal pending, we moved a stay application," Tankha was quoted as saying by LiveLaw.

Last month, the ITAT dismissed Congress' appeal against imposition of penalties amounting to Rs 210 crore. The party said at the time the I-T tribunal order was "an attack on democracy" as it came ahead of the Lok Sabha polls 2024.  

Subsequently, the IT Department initiated a recovery process, withdrawing over Rs 65 crore from the Congress' bank accounts. Last month, the ITAT ordered the freezing of the Congress party's bank accounts due to two main violations. 

The first was the failure to file the income tax return within the prescribed time limit under Section 139(4B), breaching Section 13 A provisions of the Income Tax Act for FY 2018-19.

The second was the acceptance of excessive cash donations of Rs 2,000, amounting to Rs 14.49 lakh with Rs 3 lakh received via real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system. It also said that the Congress party allegedly deliberately defaulted on its payments and attempts to make a recovery have been unsuccessful. 

The payment of income tax has been pending for four years and the party has shown no inclination to fulfill its financial obligation. At the time, the Congress said the delay in filing ITR returns to the extension of deadlines during election years. 

The party also said the Rs 11.49 lakh received from 23 MLAs/MPs cannot be qualified as "donations". The Congress furthermore said they have been wrongfully targeted to thwart their participation in the 2024 general elections.