Continuing its pressure on the Centre for disclosing the names of Indians having “stashed” black money in “Liechtenstein” banks, the Supreme Court on Friday gave four days to the government to come up with a positive response asking why it was hesitant to make them public. While specifically asking the government as about how
many accounts it has got the details from the German authorities, a bench of Justices B. Sudershan Reddy and S.S. Nijjar told solicitor-general Gopal Subramaniam “what is the big deal about disclosing the names.”
As Mr Subramaniam tried to explain the provisions of double taxation avoidance treaty (DTAT) between India and Germany under which the issue was being dealt, the bench pressed further, saying “our only query is what is the difficulty in disclosing the names when government has got details about them from the German authorities?”
Facing constant pressure form the court, the S-G finally sought a brief adjournment to enable him to consult the government on the issue. “I need little bit of accommodation. I need to take instruction on the disclosure of the names,” he said.
“Forget about the documents and procedures for the present we want to know what is the impediment in disclosing the names if you are aware of them,” the bench persisted while listing further hearing on January 19 in an anticipation that the government would come up with some definite information.
The pressure on the government came form the top court while hearing a PIL by some public figures led by noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani, seeking strict direction to the government to take steps to bring back the illegal money stashed by Indians abroad.
Senior advocate Anil Diwan arguing the PIL, said since September 2009 the Centre had maintained a virtual silent on the issue and has now come up with a two-page affidavit only detailing procedural aspects of the DTAT.
Questioning the very basis of invoking the DTAT in the matter, particularly after the Germany government had made public details of some secret accounts in the banks in Liechtenstein, a small landlocked nation between Austria and Switzerland, Diwan said the Centre should have taken the matter directly outside the DTAT to speed up the process of getting back the illegal money as done by some European countries.
While describing the matter of a “huge dimension” for the economy of the country, Mr Diwan said it should not be allowed to be made a subject matter of certain technical wrangling of the DTAT.