×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

What've you done to curb black money, SC asks govt

Last Updated 03 September 2015, 20:42 IST

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to spell out the steps taken by it in accordance with the recommendations made by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to curb black money.

A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice H L Dattu, however, refused to allow a plea to hand over copy of three reports prepared by Justice M B Shah-headed SIT to petitioners on claim by its counsel that those contained “economically sensitive” details.
During the brief hearing, the bench, also comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and A K Sikri, asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, “Please tell us what steps have been taken on the reports. The SIT has so far submitted three reports.”

The court, which posted the matter for further hearing on October 28, also asked senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing the SIT to submit fresh report on or before October 7.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan urged the court to direct the SIT to hand over a copy of its report to PIL petitioner Ram Jethmalani. He said as per the media reports, the SIT had in its last report recommended for curbing use of Participatory Notes, an instrument being employed by foreign institutional investors to invest in stock exchanges here.

“As much as Rs 3 lakh crore is involved in stock market through Participatory Notes,” he contended. The bench, which went through the sealed report on Bhushan’s insistence, said that there was no information about Participatory Notes in it.

Dave, on his part, contended that the SIT report contained “delicate information” and any direction to reveal the report will affect the interest of the country.

In its July report, the SC-appointed SIT had suggested to bring in effective norms to curb betting in cricket and stringent norms for P-Notes to check the black money menace, among others.

The SIT had also recommended for bringing donations to educational and religious bodies under the tax net. It also said Sebi should come up with regulations on collection beneficial ownership details of P-note holders, as also for monitoring any unusual rise in stock prices.

In its third report, the panel headed by Justice M B Shah expressed concern over “involvement” of huge illegal and unaccounted money in cricket betting, especially in Indian Premier League and made a case for effective legislative steps to deal with the menace.

“It is apparent that illegal activity of cricket betting requires to be controlled by some provisions which are deterrent to all the concerned,” said the report.

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 03 September 2015, 20:42 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT