The Union government on Tuesday announced the setting up of a high-level Special Investigation Team to help unearth black money stashed away abroad, at the first meeting of the Cabinet, presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Union Law and Justice, Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the SIT would be headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice M. B. Shah and another retired Supreme Court judge Justice Arijit Pasayat would be its vice-chairman.
“The SIT will have high-profile government officials like Revenue Secretary, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Director of Intelligence Bureau, Director of Enforcement Directorate, Director, Central Bureau of Investigation, Research and Analysis Wing chief, Director-General of Revenue Intelligence, Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and Director of Financial Intelligence.”
He said the constitution of the SIT indicated the commitment of the government to pursue the issue of black money in right earnest. “The SIT is being set up in accordance with the policy commitments made by our government, led by Mr. Modi,” he said. The SIT will take over the investigation of all black money cases.
Acting on a writ petition filed by the former Law Minister and senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, the Supreme Court in July 2011 had specified the terms of reference for the SIT.
However, the UPA government did not comply with the order for nearly three years and sought a direction to review/modify the order.
A Bench headed by Justice H.L. Dattu dismissed the review application and gave three weeks’ time for the Centre to notify the SIT. Last Friday, the court extended the time limit by one more week. Accordingly, the Modi government decided to implement the direction without any delay.
The court had empowered the SIT with the responsibility of preparing a comprehensive action plan, including the creation of institutional structures that would enable and strengthen the country’s battle against generation of unaccounted monies, and their stashing away in foreign banks or in various forms domestically.
