Chidambaram’s kin move Madras HC challenging case under Black Money Act

Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram’s wife Nalini Chidambaram, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi have moved the Madras High Court challenging the prosecution launched against them by the Income Tax department under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act of 2015.

The petitioners contended that the Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) was not a competent officer to launch prosecution under Section 50 of the Act and therefore the complaint filed against them should be quashed. They also claimed that the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) court in Egmore here was not the designated special court under the Act.

“If any proceedings are initiated by the CMM based on the persecution complaint filed by the second respondent (Principal Director), who is incompetent to file the complaint, it will cause prejudice to the respondents. The petitioner does not have any undisclosed foreign asset and hence does not come within the purview of the Black Money Act,” the petitioners said in their identical affidavits.

The family had initially approached the High Court to restrain the I-T officials from launching prosecution against them under the Act with respect to a property purchased by them jointly at a cost of £5.35 lakh at Cambridge in the United Kingdom. However, Justice T.S. Sivagnanam dismissed their plea in April this year. It was only thereafter, I-T officials had gone ahead and launched prosecution.