HC dismisses Sukh Ram's plea

The Delhi High Court has dismissed former communication minister Sukh Ram's appeal challenging the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) that had demanded higher tax from him on account of his income between 1987-88 and 1997-98.

While dismissing the petition for lack of any substantial question of law, a Division Bench comprising Justice Madan B Lokur and Justice Vipin Sanghi observed that it was not possible to reappreciate the evidence, particularly when the assessee had not been able to show any perversity in the order passed by the Tribunal.

"The issue having been decided purely on facts, we are of the view that no substantial question of law arises for our consideration," the Bench held.

Reiterating the earlier judgement in the case of CIT vs KTMS Mohamood, the court said that when an assessee was found in possession of currency, it was for him and not the Revenue to prove that he was not the owner of the currency found in his possession.

While investigating the Rs 4,000-crore telecom scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had recovered cash and jewellery worth Rs 2.45 crore and Rs 1.16 crore from the residential premises of Sukh Ram at Delhi and Mandi (Himachal Pradesh) respectively on August 16, 1996.

Initially, Sukh Ram denied that the money belonged to him and later said that he had collected the funds for the Congress party. But, he had failed to give any material record to substantiate his allegation.

However, both the then Congress President Sitaram Kesri and party treasurer Ahmed Patel had denied that the funds belonged to the party.

As the statements of the Congress leaders were not retracted later, the Tribunal had held that the cash belonged to Sukh Ram.

The Tribunal had also noted that the books of accounts of the Congress, on verification, didn't show any connection with the cash recovered from the assessee.