Tweet
Rejecting the charge made by the Income Tax Department that he and his relatives had amassed wealth illegally, former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan on Sunday claimed that the department had never confiscated even a penny of illegal wealth either from him or any of his relatives.
Justice Balakrishnan told the media that the statement made earlier by ET Lukose, Director General, Income Tax, that he and his relatives had amassed illegal wealth was wrong. “The I-T Department has not been able to prove that any of us has earned even a penny illegally,” said the former CJI, presently the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.
The I-T Department is investigating charges against the former CJI, his sons-in-law PV Sreenijin and MJ Benny and brother KG Bhaskaran that they had amassed huge wealth illegally between 2005 and 2010, which included the period when Justice Balakrishnan had served as Chief Justice in the Supreme Court.
Dropping his earlier objections to revealing his income tax details, Justice Balakrishnan said he was prepared to give the copies of the income tax returns he had filed for years from 2005-06 to 2009-10.
The former CJI had written twice to the Income Tax Department asking it not to release
copies of the returns to an RTI activist who had asked for them.
Asked about the allegations against his two sons-in-law, Justice Balakrishnan posed a counter question: “How would buying 30 cents of land become illegal wealth amassment?” To a query on the charge against his brother Bhaskaran over the purchase of farmland in Tamil Nadu, the former CJI said land was even now available in that state at Rs 500 a cent.
Justice Balakrishnan alleged that some forces had been engaged in strong lobbying against him. “As mediamen, you know that all these allegations are baseless. Anybody with common sense would understand this. I don’t want to say anything on this. Also, I believe that you people in the media know about this well,” he said.
Asked whether he thought that he was being targeted because he was a Dalit, the former CJI said he did not want to counter the allegations with the ‘Dalit card’. “All these allegations call for defamation proceedings. But for that I will have to approach the court with a private complaint. You know how difficult it will be for me. I am not going for any case.” he said.
The allegations against him and his relatives had started with the revelation that former Kerala Youth Congress vice-president PV Sreenijin, husband of Justice Balakrishnan’s daughter KB Sony, had bought property worth a minimum of Rs 15 crore in the four years till 2010 while his entire assets are worth just Rs 43,000 as per his own claim in 2006.
Sreenijin claimed that he had bought all the property with his earnings and those of his wife, both engaged in the legal profession. However, the Income Tax Department refused to believe this. Similar allegations were raised against Benny, husband of KB Rani, another daughter of the former CJI.
Justice Balakrishnan’s brother KG Bhaskaran had resigned in January as Special Government Pleader in the Kerala High Court following the media reports that he had bought several acres of farmland worth crores of rupees in Tamil Nadu jointly with some relatives.
Justice Balakrishnan told the media that the statement made earlier by ET Lukose, Director General, Income Tax, that he and his relatives had amassed illegal wealth was wrong. “The I-T Department has not been able to prove that any of us has earned even a penny illegally,” said the former CJI, presently the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.
The I-T Department is investigating charges against the former CJI, his sons-in-law PV Sreenijin and MJ Benny and brother KG Bhaskaran that they had amassed huge wealth illegally between 2005 and 2010, which included the period when Justice Balakrishnan had served as Chief Justice in the Supreme Court.
Dropping his earlier objections to revealing his income tax details, Justice Balakrishnan said he was prepared to give the copies of the income tax returns he had filed for years from 2005-06 to 2009-10.
The former CJI had written twice to the Income Tax Department asking it not to release
copies of the returns to an RTI activist who had asked for them.
Asked about the allegations against his two sons-in-law, Justice Balakrishnan posed a counter question: “How would buying 30 cents of land become illegal wealth amassment?” To a query on the charge against his brother Bhaskaran over the purchase of farmland in Tamil Nadu, the former CJI said land was even now available in that state at Rs 500 a cent.
Justice Balakrishnan alleged that some forces had been engaged in strong lobbying against him. “As mediamen, you know that all these allegations are baseless. Anybody with common sense would understand this. I don’t want to say anything on this. Also, I believe that you people in the media know about this well,” he said.
Asked whether he thought that he was being targeted because he was a Dalit, the former CJI said he did not want to counter the allegations with the ‘Dalit card’. “All these allegations call for defamation proceedings. But for that I will have to approach the court with a private complaint. You know how difficult it will be for me. I am not going for any case.” he said.
The allegations against him and his relatives had started with the revelation that former Kerala Youth Congress vice-president PV Sreenijin, husband of Justice Balakrishnan’s daughter KB Sony, had bought property worth a minimum of Rs 15 crore in the four years till 2010 while his entire assets are worth just Rs 43,000 as per his own claim in 2006.
Sreenijin claimed that he had bought all the property with his earnings and those of his wife, both engaged in the legal profession. However, the Income Tax Department refused to believe this. Similar allegations were raised against Benny, husband of KB Rani, another daughter of the former CJI.
Justice Balakrishnan’s brother KG Bhaskaran had resigned in January as Special Government Pleader in the Kerala High Court following the media reports that he had bought several acres of farmland worth crores of rupees in Tamil Nadu jointly with some relatives.
