Wondering how the Income Tax department could continue to conduct a case against a dead person, the Madras High Court has asked it to find out by September 26 whether former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had any legal heirs and if she had left a will.
Justices Huluvadi G. Ramesh and K. Kalyanasundaram posed the question during the hearing of a case filed by the department against an order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal over revised assessment of wealth tax for 1997-98.
After condoning the delay, the tribunal had also set aside an order of revision passed by the Commissioner of Wealth Tax. The I-T department had challenged the condonation of delay as well as the consequential order. However, since Jayalalithaa had died on December 5, 2016, the judges wanted to know whether any legal heirs would be available.