Congress has got relief for a few days in the matter of notice received from the Income Tax Department. During the hearing in the Supreme Court, the Income Tax Department had assured that since the time of Lok Sabha elections is going on, no action will be taken by the department to recover this money. The bench of Justice VV Nagarathna heard this case. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was present in the court on behalf of the Income Tax Department. The next hearing in this case will be on July 24.
Tushar Mehta said, 'The department sent a notice of Rs 1700 crore. But since Lok Sabha elections are coming, no action will be taken towards recovery. No action will be taken until the case is heard. After recovery of Rs 135 crore, a demand notice of Rs 1700 crore has been issued.
Before the Lok Sabha elections, Congress has received a new notice from the Income Tax Department. The notice was issued for a demand of Rs 1,745 crore from 2014-15 to 2016-17. Congress has so far received notices for recovery of a total of Rs 3,567 crore. The last notice pertains to the dues of year 2014-15 (Rs 667 crore), year 2015-16 (Rs 664 crore) and year 2016-17 (Rs 417 crore). The authorities have ended the concessions given to political parties and have started imposing taxes on political parties. Congress had earlier said that Rs 135 crore has been recovered directly from the party's account.