IT department to seek public comments on black money recovery

The Committee, headed by CBDT Chairman Prakash Chandra, was set up last month to examine ways to strengthen laws to curb generation of black money in India, its illegal transfer abroad and its recovery. "The Committee held its first meeting today and decided to seek public comments. It discussed which laws need to be amended to bring back black money," sources told PTI.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of the government facing flak from civil society and opposition for not doing enough to deal with the menace of black money. The committee, consisting of officials from senior officials from the CBDT, Enforcement Directorate, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Currency unit and financial intelligence department, would submit its report in six months.

The Committee is expected to submit its report in six months. To deal with the menace of black money, the government had yesterday announced setting up of another panel to suggest ways to trace tax defaulters, reveal their identity to the public and recover taxes.

The panel on black money will also suggest modalities for utilisation of the information available with Financial Intelligence Unit -India (FIU-IND) and the Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) with a view to recovering outstanding demands. Besides, the government had announced a five-pronged strategy to deal with the menace of black money, including setting up of a Directorate of Criminal Investigation to deal with tax related crimes.