india

Updated: Apr 17, 2019 01:27 IST

The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to Congress leader P Chidambaram’s wife Nalini Chidambaram, son Karti Chidambaram, and daughter-in-law Srinidhi on an Income Tax (I-T) department appeal against a 2018 Madras high court order that quashed their criminal prosecution under the Black Money Act.

A bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi refused to stay the high court order, but asked Chidambaram’s family members to file their responses to the I-T department’s appeal.

The Chidambarams’ lawyer Arun Natarajan said in a statement released on Twitter by P Chidambaram that the HC had “quashed the complaint as baseless and illegal” and pointed out that the SC on Tuesday, “expressly declined to stay the judgement of the HC”.

The I-T department lodged a case against the family in connection with the alleged non-disclosure of overseas assets. The three allegedly did not disclose property worth Rs 5.37 crore they jointly owned in the UK.

The department has also alleged that Karti Chidambaram did not disclose an overseas bank account he holds in Metro Bank in the UK and investments made in Nano Holdings LLC of the US.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the I-T department, asked the bench to put on hold the Madras HC order. But the judges told Mehta that to grant a stay at this stage would amount to allowing the IT department’s appeal.

Natarajan added in the statement that “Karti Chidambaram and others will appear in due course and contest the case.”