Affidavit on black money in 48 hrs, govt assures court

The Congress-led UPA government told the Supreme Court on Wednesday it was mystified at the timing of the petition seeking extraction of the country’s black money from certain foreign banks, but assured the court it would submit an affidavit “within 48 hours” detailing steps it had taken to get back the huge amount Indians had stashed in banks abroad.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) Gopal Subramanium urged the apex court not to issue notices to the finance ministry and its departments, named as respondents in a PIL filed by noted lawyer and MP Ram Jethmalani.

A bench headed by chief justice KG Balakrishnan allowed Subramanium to file the government’s response before May 4, the next date of hearing. ASG also drew the court’s attention towards the black money issue raised by certain political parties during the poll campaign.

BJP chief LK Advani first raked the issue, on the eve of prime minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to attend the G-20 meeting in London, by saying that if the NDA comes to power it would ensure that $1.4 trillion of black money or ill-gotten wealth being stashed away in foreign banks, is brought back to the country. However, on April 10 Singh described the figures Advani furnished as “bogus”.