The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear the pleas filed by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi against the Delhi High Court order for re-opening of their income tax assessments for 2011-12 relating to Associated Journals Ltd, the publisher of National Herald. Congress leader Oscar Fernandes too has moved the top court against the 10 September order of the High Court directing the case to be re-opened.
A report by news agency PTI said that the income tax assessment case was linked to the National Herald case in which Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were also facing a criminal case.
“We are fixing the matter for final arguments on December 4,” a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and SA Abdul Nazeer was quoted as saying.
Elsewhere, the Delhi High Court postponed the hearing of another case related to the government order asking the National Herald to vacate its building till 15 November. In its 30 October order, the Urban Development Ministry had asked the Associated Journals Limited to vacate the building by 15 November since the government had ended its lease.
It’s not clear whether the government’s order will be put on hold since the High Court has agreed to hear the AJL’s petition. The AJL, in its petition, had termed the Urban Development Ministry’s order ‘”illegal, unconstitutional, arbitrary, tainted with malafide’ and sought the court’s intervention for its quashing.