Black money: Government to study court order
New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) The government Monday said it would study the Supreme Court order to set up a special team to probe black money stashed by Indian citizens in foreign tax havens.
“I do not think one should give off-the-cuff reaction on a Supreme Court order. If the Supreme Court has given an order, it is final because it is the final court. Let us first read the order," Home Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters here.
He said the government would respond to the Supreme Court order “if necessary” only after going through the details of the ruling.
A committee headed by former Supreme Court judge B.P. Jeevan Reddy was ordered to be set up by an apex court bench of Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice S.S. Nijjar. It also directed the central government to disclose the names of people holding accounts in LGT Bank in Liechtenstein -- a principality in Europe bordering Switzerland and Austria -- as disclosed to it by German authorities.
The court upgraded and converted the existing high-level committee, constituted by the central government, into the special investigation team (SIT).
Justice M.B. Shah will be the committee's vice chairman.
In its lengthy order, the apex court repeatedly pulled up the central government for dragging its feet and delaying the investigation into the black money stashed abroad.