Centre moves SC on HC's order on black money law

The Centre on Monday approached the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court's order that stated the Black Money law can't be applied prior to April 1, 2016 as the date of enactment fixed by Parliament.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta mentioned the matter before a bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna, saying the order would have ramifications on several pending black money cases.

The top court allowed his plea for urgent hearing and listed the matter for consideration on Tuesday.

The high court had on May 16 passed its interim order restraining the government and the Income Tax department from taking further action against advocate Gautam Khaitan in Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015.

Khaitan had contended the Centre's notification stating that the Act would come into force since July 1, 2015, instead of April 1, 2016, was beyond the scope of the Act.

It was alleged that Khaitan, an accused in the VVIP chopper deal scam, had deposited Rs 6,000 crore in offshore accounts. The high court had sought to know how the Centre gave retrospective effect to the Act from July, 2015, when the law came into effect on April 1, 2016 to deal with undisclosed foreign income and assets.