Bombay High Court Grants Relief To Shah Rukh Khan & Juhi Chawla From Income Tax Notice
Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla can heave a sigh of relief. The Bombay High Court has stayed the show-cause notices issued to the Kolkata Knight Riders Team owners by the IT Department over alleged undervaluation of shares...
Offering relief to actors Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, the Bombay High Court has stayed the show-cause notices issued to them by the Income Tax Department over alleged undervaluation of shares, reports PTI.
In an interim order passed last Friday, a Bench of Justices MS Sanklecha and RI Chagla held that the I-T department’s notices were prima facie not based on any concrete evidence or finding.
In March 2017, the I-T department had issued notices to
the Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd (KRSPL) and its directors Shah Rukh Khan, his
wife Gauri and Juhi Chawla.
According to the notice, after the success of IPL, KRSPL
issued 5 million shares to a firm in Mauritius and another 4 million shares to
Chawla. These shares were allotted at a value of Rs 10, whereas the actual
value of these shares was much higher. The department claimed that Chawla then
sold her shares to the same company in Mauritius for Rs 10 each.
Thus, the foreign company was issued 9 million shares at par value, while the actual cost of share at the time of sale was around Rs 86-99 per share. This resulted in a loss of foreign exchange to the extent of Rs 735 million.
The Bench, however, noted that in 2013, an assessing officer of the I-T department had looked into the above allegations, and after being satisfied that there was no wrongdoing, he had closed the case.
However, the department issued fresh notices in 2017 after going through a change of opinion and decided to reopen the case.
“The asessing officer being satisfied with the valuation of shares, submitted by the assessee, did not seek any further information.
Therefore, when on the same basis, without any reasons in
support of the reopening, the notice proceeds, it prima facie appears merely
to be change of opinion,” the Bench said. “We are of the view that the reasons
in support of the impugned notice, prima facie, proceed on a change of opinion
and, therefore, prima facie, lacks jurisdiction,” it added.
Khan, along with Chawla and others, owns IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders.
Image Source: instagram/srkjuhi
