Supreme Court seeks I-T files in 'circle transfer plea' by Rahul Gandhi, other Cong leaders and AAP

The Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned original files from the Income Tax (IT) Department pertaining to the transfer of tax assessment of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and other charitable trusts to the central circle.

A bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna clarified that it would decide the pleas only on the legal issue and would refrain from entering the politics of the case. The bench also verbally observed that the central assessment may be necessary if there were cross-transactions between individuals.

The development took place during the resumed hearing of a clutch of pleas filed by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, AAP and other charitable trusts challenging the decision of the Income Tax authorities to transfer their tax assessments to the central circle.

The SC orally observed that income tax assessing officers have concurrent jurisdiction. The bench was informed by the counsel appearing for the Gandhi family and charitable trusts associated with them that the IT authorities tagged all the supplementary cases because of a search in fugitive arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari's case.

The IT Department tagged all the cases together because of Robert Vadra's alleged association with Bhandari. The Gandhi family has maintained that it has nothing to do with the Bhandari group's cases and that there has been no instance of search or seizure in their cases.