Supreme Court Adjourns Hearing In PILs Filed By Ram Jethmalani & Others Seeking To Recover Black Money From Foreign Accounts

The petition, though filed in 2009, was last heard in 2016. Apart from Jethmalani, there are 5 other petitioners in the case, including former IPS officer KPS Gill. Another petition filed by former IPS officer Julio F Riberio and 15 other former civil servants raising the same issue was also listed today.

A Bench of Justices S Abdul Nazeer, AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian adjourned the matter after the counsel appearing for the petitioners sought for more time to seek instructions.

"This is an important matter which has been engaging your Lordships' attention. In fact, your Lordships directed the government, through the committee, to file reports on how to tackle problems of black money in the country. Many reports have been submitted in sealed covers. I have to seek instructions from committee members on what has to be done. Kindly adjourn by two weeks."

During the hearing, the Bench asked if the committee reports were placed on record.

"Secretary General tells us that some reports have come..", the Bench said.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati said that she'll not appear if there's a conflict as her office is assisting the committee formed.

"If there's a conflict, I'll not appear. The officers are assisting the committee."

Advocate Prashant Bhushan informed that he wanted to intervene in the matter to which the bench, in lighter vein commented,

"Do it fast, why are you waiting?"

Jethmalani had invited the public attention to the problem of unaccounted wealth earned in India being stashed in foreign tax havens, which he estimated to be about Rs 90 lakh crores of rupees. It was during 2009 – when allegations of scams related to 2G spectrum auction and coal block allocations were rocking the UPA government – that he filed the PIL in the Supreme Court along with five other petitioners.

The Petitioners mainly pointed out to the massive volume of unaccounted monies indicates a significant lack of control over unlawful activities through which such monies are generated, evasion of taxes, and use of unlawful means of transfer of funds. Further, it was alleged that these funds are then laundered and brought back into India, to be used in both legal and illegal activities.

On July 4, 2011, a Supreme Bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and Surinder Singh Nijjar constituted a Special Investigation Team(SIT) with former SC judges Justice B P Jeevan Reddy as the Chairman and Justice M B Shah as the Vice-Chairman to monitor and guide the investigation related to the stashing of unaccounted monies in foreign bank accounts by Indians or other entities operating in India.

On May 1, 2014, the apex court had reconstituted the SIT by appointing former SC judge Justice Arijit Pasayat in place of B P Jeevan Reddy, after the latter expressed personal difficulties to continue as its Chairman.

The Court had said the issue of black money indicated a "failure of state" and observed that a resolution of the problem was of "primordial importance to the welfare of the citizens".

Subsequently, the Court had asked the Centre to submit the names of foreign bank account holders in a sealed cover to it. The Court also permitted the petitioners to submit their suggestions on the way forward to bring back black money before the SIT and asked it to consider them.

On May 12, 2015, Jethmalani expressed before the Court his anguish at the unsatisfactory progress in the probe.

He told a bench headed by the then CJI H L Dattu that the government's promise to bring back illegal money stashed abroad was "worse than an illusion" and a "fraud on the nation".

He alleged that the government "has no intention to proceed against those stashing black money as the persons in power appear to be involved in it".

Case Title: W.P.(C) No. 176/2009 PIL -W Ram Jethmalani And Ors. And Ors. Versus Union Of India And Ors And Ors, Juilio F Riberio and others versus Union of India WP(c) 37/2010