Hyderabad: A local court on Friday posted for
orders to November 21, the petitions of Income Tax Department,
seeking copies of documents, seized by the CBI during the
probe of corruption charges against Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan
Reddy and the alleged irregularities in the Emaar Properties
land deal.
After hearing arguments from both the defense and
the prosecution, the special court for CBI cases reserved the
orders in the matter to November 21.
Seeking a direction to the CBI for sharing the
material, seized during the searches on the premises of YSR
Congress chief and the group of companies, owned by him, the
I-T officials in Bangalore and Hyderabad had approached the
court last month.
They had filed separate applications in the court,
seeking directions to CBI to provide information on the seized
material, so that the I-T department could "frame" the pending
assessment of Jagan, the group of companies owned by him, and
the Emaar Hill Township Pvt Ltd.
Strongly opposing the request for soft copies of the
entire seized material, senior defense counsel E Umamaheshwar
Rao contended that "no provision has been cited by the I-T
Department, seeking the documents" and wanted the petitioners
to instead file fresh petitions, listing out the relevant
documents that are necessary for finalising the assessment
proceedings.
"They (IT department) must specify what documents
are relevant for completion of assessment. We never failed in
responding to their notices and are ready to furnish the
required and necessary documents for the purpose of assessment
proceedings, as sought," he submitted, adding that the I-T
Department already had access and seen the documents seized by
CBI.
Referring to another petition by the I-T (Hyderabad)
Department on sharing of material, seized by the CBI of Emaar
Hill Township Pvt Ltd (EHTPL), in connection with the alleged
irregularities in the APIIC-Emaar Properties land deal, the
defense counsel termed the I-T Department`s contention as
"without basis" that CBI, during its course of investigation,
detected gross undervaluation of plots.
The public prosecutor submitted that the I-T officials
had first approached the CBI for information on the seized
documents, but the latter asked them to seek court permission
and hence they were now requesting the court for the
directive.
"It`s only an exchange of information between
the government agencies, and they would access only relevant
documents required for the assessment," the prosecution
counsel said.
PTI
