BackBlack money: Ask SIT for copies of report, SC tells petitioner
SC says it's confident that govt will complete proceedings on or before 31 March 2015 and if not, issue appropriate orders to ensure probe doesn't get time-barred
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New Delhi: Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani, petitioner in the so-called black money case, on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court for copies of the reports submitted by a special investigation team (SIT) headed by former judge M.B. Shah.
The lawyer also sought directions to ensure that an income tax department probe of 627 foreign account-holders whose names were disclosed by the government to the apex court earlier does not get barred by the deadline of 31 March.
The SIT submitted its second report to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
A bench comprising chief justice H.L. Dattu, and justices Madan B. Lokur and A.K. Sikri said the judges were “confident that the central government would complete the proceedings on or before 31 March 2015" and if not, issue appropriate orders to ensure the probe didn’t get time-barred. Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi assured the court that “nothing will be time-barred".
The court also asked the petitioner to approach SIT with a written representation to receive copies of its reports and the SIT would pass appropriate orders. The central government was also asked to obtain the reports in a similar manner.
Jethmalani, represented by senior lawyer Anil Divan, also asked for original versions, without redacting names, of certain correspondences that a former solicitor general had shared with the petitioner. The court asked them to file an application for the correspondence with SIT.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, through lawyer Prashant Bhushan, sought the release of a list of 250 names who had admitted to holding foreign accounts, and cases against them had been closed after deduction of certain taxes. The court did not grant this plea as Rohatgi raised an objection as Kejriwal’s intervening application hasn’t been admitted yet.
PTI contributed to this story.
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