Tax reassessments: Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi's plea rejected by Delhi HC

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday rejected Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi 's plea challenging the income tax notice seeking tax reassessment for the financial year 2011-2012.The Delhi high court said the Income Tax department has powers to reopen tax proceedings. It further said the petitioners can approach the income tax department with their grievances.The former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had, last month, informed the Delhi high court that the income tax (I-T) department had “mala fide” intention in sending reassessment notice to Young Indian Pvt Ltd (YI). Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi, who is the current president of Congress, are major stakeholders of YI.The HC had earlier declined a plea made on behalf of Rahul Gandhi to put certain restrictions on the media with regard to reporting on his petition against reopening of his 2011-12 tax assessment. His lawyers had urged the court to order that confidentiality be maintained regarding the contents of the petition and reporting of the matter be confined to arguments in the court.The HC had said it could not “go into all this” as it would be akin to going on a “wild goose chase”.According to the tax department, Rahul Gandhi's assessment for the years 2011-12 was decided to be reopened as he did not disclose that he was a director in the company - YI - since 2010.As per the tax department, the shares Gandhi has in YI would lead him to have an income of Rs 154 crore and not about Rs 68 lakh, as was assessed by it earlier.The department has in the instant case applied section 147 of the Income Tax Act, which provides for bringing under the tax net any income which has escaped assessment in the original assessment.Gandhi's lawyers said the query put to their client during the scrutiny of his assessment was whether he had any interest in any company or sister concern in which he was a director and he had replied in the negative as YI was a Section 25 company, a non-profit entity, and hence no director would have any interest in it.