New Delhi: While refusing to grant relief to Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the notice issued by the I-T department in 2001 for recovery of Rs 1.66 crore for his Kaun Banega Crorepati TV show.
A bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi and Prafulla C. Pant allowed an appeal by the I-T department against a Bombay HC verdict affirming an order of the IT appellate Tribunal for exemption.
High Court had allowed exemption in 2008
The bench in its order said the notice issued under Section 69-C of the IT Act could not have been simply dropped on the ground that the claim has been withdrawn.
“We, therefore, are of the opinion that the commissioner of Income-Tax was perfectly justified in coming to his conclusions and in passing the impugned order on that basis. The Tribunal as well as the High Court, therefore, ought not to have interfered with the said conclusion. This is a fit case for exercise of the suo motu revisional powers of the C.I.T. under Section 263 of the Act.
“The order of the learned C.I.T., therefore, is restored and those of the learned tribunal dated August 28, 2007 and the High Court dated August 28, 2008 are set aside,” the bench said.
In this appeal, the I-T department said it was aggrieved over an order of the Bombay High Court granting relief to Mr Bachchan by dismissing an appeal filed by the Income Tax Commissioner who reopened the actor’s assessment proceedings for 2001-2002.
In 2008, the High Court had allowed I-T exemption of 30 per cent on Mr Amitabh Bachchan’s ’total income of Rs 50.92 crore from the show.
