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Black Money Crackdown
The Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money will submit its ninth interim report to the apex court within 15 days, the panel's vice-chairman Justice (Retired) Arijit Pasayat said here on Monday. After coming to power in May 2014, the Narendra Modi government, in its first cabinet meeting, approved the appointment of the SIT as directed by the Supreme Court. We have already submitted eight reports to the Supreme Court while the ninth report will be submitted within 15 days, Justice Pasayat told reporters here. To a question, he said it would not be the last report as work is going on. The SIT vice-chairman came here on Monday on a three-day visit to the state. He is likely to hold a meeting of officers from IT, ED, Customs and Excise and Central Board of Indirect Tax departments in Cuttack on August 28. Director of ED Rahul Navin is also scheduled to attend the meeting.
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that almost every country, including India, was grappling with the problem of use of black money in elections and the electoral bonds scheme was a "conscious attempt" to eradicate the menace of "unclean money" in the poll process. Arguing before a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said the apex court may not take this particular scheme as a standalone attempt in the direction of dealing with the menace of black money. Mehta highlighted steps taken by the government to deal with black money including digitised payments and action taken against 2.38 lakh "shell companies" between 2018 and 2021. "The use of black money in elections and politics in general and elections in particular...every country is grappling with this problem. Country-specific issues are being dealt with by every country depending upon the circumstances existing. India is also