Govt panel on black money discusses changes in legislation

The government’s committee on unaccounted (‘black’) money met on Friday to discuss changes in existing legislation to address the issue. It discussed the responses the government had got till date from the general public on the problem.

The panel is chaired by Prakash Chandra, outgoing chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). It also discussed the Supreme Court’s latest order to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising retired judges to take over the probe into all black money cases, finance ministry officials said.

This was the committee’s second meeting. It had first met on June 9. Further meetings were postponed as the government moved the Supreme Court, seeking recall and modification of the latter’s SIT order.

The government contended the apex court had ventured into the domain of the executive by passing such an order.

In the earlier meeting, the committee had asked all the agencies and departments concerned under the finance ministry to review laws under their jurisdiction. In the backdrop of the government facing flak from opposition parties and civil society for not doing enough to deal with the menace of black money, the committee was constituted by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in May.

It was asked to examine how to strengthen laws to curb generation of black money, its illegal transfer abroad and recovery.

The panel was told to examine the legal and administrative framework to deal with generation of black money. This includes declaring wealth generated illegally as a national asset, enacting/amending laws to confiscate and recover such assets, and providing for exemplary punishment against its perpetrators.

The committee is to give its report within six months. Apart from the chairman, it has the CBDT’s member (legal & computerisation); the head of the enforcement directorate; the director-general of revenue intelligence; the director general (currency); the joint secretary (foreign tax and tax research), and the joint secretary, financial intelligence unit as members.