Himachal HC reserves judgement on CM's I-T case

The Himachal Pradesh High Court Wednesday reserved its judgment on the petitions of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his family members challenging transfer of the cases relating to investigations into their income tax returns.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan reserved the order after hearing arguments of both the parties.

The petitioners have challenged the transfer of their income tax return cases from Shimla to Chandigarh. They said the transfer of the cases would only result in their harassment.

The income tax commissioner, in his orders, said the agricultural income of Virbhadra Singh and his family had dramatically increased in the revised return, which was an apparent attempt to justify the investments made in the purchase of insurance policies.

The assessees had close relations and business dealings among themselves and with businessman Vakamulla Chandrashekhar and his company Tarini Infrastructure Ltd., which require coordinated and joint investigations in all cases.

He transferred all the cases to deputy commissioner of income tax of central circle in Chandigarh, saying that centralisation of cases would enable the department to conduct focused, synchronized and coordinated investigation.