SC STAYS HC ORDER ON BLACK MONEY LAW

The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed Delhi High Court’s interim order against the Centre’s notification to implement the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) & Imposition of Tax Act, 2016 with retrospect effect from July 1, 2015.

The vacation bench of Justices Arun Mishra and

MR Shah okayed the government’s plea to allow the law to operate from the back date to book and probe offenders.

It also stayed the High Court’s order on May 16 which restrained the Income Tax department from taking any action against VVIP chopper scam accused Gautam Khaitan, against whom a black money case has been lodged.

“Notice. The impugned order [of the High Court] is stayed,” the Bench said while agreeing to hear the appeal of the Centre against the High Court order. The Bench issued notice to Mr. Khaitan and asked him to file his response to the government’s petition within six weeks. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government, had earlier submitted that the high court erred in staying the Centre's notification to invoke the black money law with retrospective effect.

On invoking the black money law with retrospective effect, the high court had said Parliament, in its wisdom, had enacted the Act which was to come into force from April 1, 2016 and as the date was expressly decided by Parliament, it could not be made applicable with retrospective effect by way of a notification.

The high court had earlier asked the Centre as to how it gave retrospective effect -from July 2015 -- to the black money law, which was enacted in April 2016 to deal with undisclosed foreign income and assets.

The high court has now posted the matter for hearing in July.