AIADMK supremo's petitions dismissed

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Saturday dismissed petitions filed by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her close friend Sasikala Natarajan in connection with Income Tax cases against them.

Justice Prabha Sridevan, after hearing elaborate arguments, dismissed the petitions challenging an April last order by an Economic Offences court here, rejecting their plea to discharge them from three Income Tax cases.

The Judge also dismissed another petition filed by Jayalalithaa, questioning the constitutional validity of Sec 278 (E) of the Income Tax (IT) Act (the section says culpable mental state in commission of the offence shall be presumed but the accused can rebut the presumption.
 
The rebuttal cannot be a mere preponderance of probability, but it should be proved beyond all reasonable doubt.

The cases against Jayalalithaa relate to her failure to file IT returns for assessment year 1993-94. The IT department had also registered two other cases against her and Sasikala for not filing returns for assessment years 1991-92 and 1992-93 as partners of Sasi Enterprises, a firm the two had started.