Bombay high court rejects Shah Rukh’s plea on tax evasion

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan received a setback on Friday when a petition filed by him under the Income Tax Act, 1961, was dismissed by the Bombay high court.

A division bench of justices DY Chandrachud and JP Devadhar dismissed Khan’s petition challenging an order passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) for alleged tax evasion of Rs9 lakh.

The court, though, has observed that Khan can file an appeal against the ITAT order. “The order of the tribunal cannot be said to be faulty,” observed the judges, while dismissing the petition.

Khan had approached high court last month challenging a November, 2009, order passed by the ITAT. The tribunal had rejected Khan’s application challenging its assessment orders (AO) of the financial year 1996-97.

According to Khan’s petition, a search and seizure took place at his residence on December 18, 1996. During the search, documents were found mentioning the alleged jottings of withdrawals made by Khan during the year.

The Assessment Officer (AO) had then come to a conclusion that the reasonable tax drawing of the petitioner for the said year should be Rs9 lakhs.

The petition further said that AO also had disallowed Rs1.83 lakh which was shown as motor car expenses on the ground that the said amount is that of personal use.

Khan had challenged the said order with Commissioner of Income-Tax (CIT) by filing an appeal in March, 1999. The CIT had allowed his appeal in January 2007.

However, the Income Tax department had challenged the CIT’s order in ITAT, which ruled against Khan.