Date:27/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/27/stories/2006082717160600.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

"Jayalalithaa trying to prolong cases"

Special Correspondent

Income Tax department tells High Court "The mental state of the person accused of wilful failure cannot be proved by the department."

CHENNAI : The Income Tax Department has told the Madras High Court that the former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, and her friend Sasikala, had challenged the constitutional validity of Section 278E of the Income Tax Act only to prolong the IT cases against them.

A counter-affidavit, filed by V.K. Pandey, Commissioner of Income Tax (Central-II Chennai), justified Section 278E of the Act, which requires the accused person to produce material to disprove the charge of wilful failure to file income tax returns. "Under this Section, it will be for the accused to produce material to discharge his burden of disproving the existence of a culpable state of mind," he said.

Wilful failure

The mental state of the person accused of wilful failure cannot be proved by the department and therefore the burden has to be shifted to the accused to show that he or she did not have such mental state of wilful failure to furnish returns of income, the counter said.

It also alleged that Ms. Jayalalithaa and Ms. Sasikala had challenged the provision, which was in the statute book for more than 20 years, only to ensure that the cases against them did not attain finality at the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Economic Offences Court-I) at Egmore, expeditiously.

"The attempt of the petitioner is only to drag on the proceedings pending before the court. Such intention becomes clear from the fact that the petitioners have successfully dragged on the prosecution under some pretext or the other from time to time for about 10 years," the Commissioner submitted.

The petitioners had also successfully avoided the verdict in the appeals preferred by them and pending before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in Chennai, he added.