Government civil supplies contractor T.S. Kumarasamy of Namakkal-based Christy Friedgram Industry, whose total unaccounted income reportedly runs to ₹2,056.76 crore, has withdrawn all writ petitions filed by him in the Madras High Court challenging the Income Tax proceedings with liberty to face the assessment proceedings.
Justices V. Parthiban and Anita Sumanth permitted the contractor to withdraw his cases. However, they ordered maintenance of status quo in so far as ₹213 crore of the petitioner’s money that had been deposited in a fixed deposit account at the High Court branch of Indian Bank as per orders passed last year by another Bench.
During the hearing of his cases on Monday, the contractor initially said he was willing to let the I-T department take away ₹140 crore out of the deposited amount and sought permission to withdraw the rest for his use so that it could be utilised to settle dues to various banks which had offered him loans and overdraft for his business. The present offer was much higher than just ₹50 crore that he had offered to pay to the I-T department last week.
He wanted the department to stop making any further attachment of the money that was due to him from the State government. However, senior standing counsel for the I-T department A.P. Srinivas refused to give any such undertaking and said the assessment proceedings would be carried forward in accordance with law.
Mangapathy Vivekananda, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, had already filed a detailed affidavit in the court stating that the contractor was liable to pay tax of approximately ₹700 crore, excluding interest, for his unaccounted income running to over ₹2,056 crore. The alleged evasion came to light after a massive search conducted in July 2018.
