AICC President Rahul Gandhi and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi suffered a major setback in their political careers after the Delhi High Court on Monday turned down their requests challenging the reopening of their tax assessment for the year 2011-12.”The writ petitions have failed.The I-T department has powers to reopen tax proceedings. Their tax filings for the year 2011-12 will be reviewed, ruled the Delhi High Court.Petitioners can approach I-T department with grievances,” the judges were quoted as saying. said that the tax department has powers to reopen tax proceedings and that the petitioners can approach income tax department with their grievances. In connection with the National Herald Case, Rahul Gandhi had challenged in the Delhi High Court the reopening of his 2011-12 assessment by the tax department for not disclosing that he was a director in Young Indian Company, an accused in the National Herald misappropriation of assets case. The Congress President’s lawyer had asserted that Rahul did not receive any income from the source, hence he is not liable for any tax. he judges also dismissed the petition of Congress leader Oscar Fernandes who too had challenged the reopening of his tax assessment for the same year.In May this year , the Delhi High Court had refused to stop an income tax investigation into Young Indian, a company which has Sonia and Rahul Gandhi as its main stakeholders, asking it to first approach tax authorities.BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has accused Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi of floating Young Indian Company to acquire the assets of the debt ridden Associated Journals worth at least 2,000 crores, which would have cleared the debt.Dr Swamy alleged that the Young Indian Company then owned all of the equity in Associated Journals and rented out its properties to profit its shareholders, including Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, who together controlled 76 per cent.The Associated Journals founded by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during freedom struggle was closed In 2008 with an alleged unpaid debt of about 90 crore INR.It was allotted the plot at a prime location on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg in New Delhi at a much cheaper prices than the market value only for publishing newspapers published by it.(inputs from Republic TV & Times Now)
