Jayalalithaa remits amount to settle IT dispute in Chennai

Sought two weeks from the court to get final order from department, court allows 10 days

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa has submitted in a court here in Chennai that she has remitted the amount sought by the Income Tax Department for compounding of offences to settle matter related to alleged tax offences against Sasi Enterprises and both its partners, Jayalalaithaa and V K Sasikala. The former chief minister of Tamil Nadu and her close associate were charged with failing to file returns for the assessment years 1991-92, 1992-93. The Court has postponed the hearing to December 11, following a request.

When the matter came up for hearing, the counsel for Jayalalithaa has filed a petition stating that the petitioner (Jayalalithaa) has remitted the amount and since the final order is awaited the counsel sought the Court to postpone the case by two weeks. The case was posted today for reporting the status of the compunding application filed by Jayalalithaa.

The Income Tax Department has issued an order on November 26, 2014, that the Regional Compounding Committee in its meeting held on November 26, has decided to accept Jayalalithaa's request for comounding of offences under section 279(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, subject to remittance of the amount stated in the order.

In view of the order, the petitioner has remitted the amount and her Chartered Accountant submitted Challan along with covering letter to the department on November 27 in order to enable the competent authority to pass final order under the said section, said the petition. It requested that until the final order is passed in the compunding application, further proceedings before the Court may not be proceeded.

"It is further submitted that the personal appearance of the petitioner before the Court for answering the questioning under section 313(1)(a) Cr.P.C and for framing the charges may not be warranted till the final order in the compounding application is passed by the department," said the petition. It may be noted that the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Court, (Economic Offence), in Chennai, has asked both Jayalalithaa and Sasikala to appear in the court several times, and Jayalalithaa skipped it pointing out various reasons.

In the recent development, the Regional Compounding Committee has asked the parties involved to remit an amount to to finalise the out-of-court settlement related to the tax offence. As per this order, Jayalalithaa was asked to remit Rs 30.84 lakh and Sasikala to remit Rs 28.07 lakh. For Sasi Enterprises , the Committee asked to remit Rs 75.33 lakh for the accounting year 1991-92 and Rs 65.67 lakh for the accounting year 1992-93.

It may be noted that it has been reported of late that Jayalalithaa, who has been sentenced four years' imprisonment and Rs 100 crore fine in a disproportionate asset case, has requested compounding of the offences in this case, which has been heard by a court in Chennai.

The Income Tax Department earlier instituted criminal proceedings by filing complaints in 1996 and 1997 against Jayalalithaa and her friend Sasikala Natarajan, for not filing returns in their individual capacity for the assessment year 1993-94. Again in 1997. The Department filed two complaints against Sasi Enterprises and its partners, both, Jayalalaithaa and Sasikala, allegedly failing to file returns for the assessment years 1991-92, 1992-93.

Four complaints have been pending before the ACMM court since then.

Ends