SC reserves order on SIT for tracking black money abroad

The Supreme Court today reserved its order on a plea to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to track the black money stashed away by Indians in safe havens abroad and to take measures to repatriate the monies.

The SC bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar also reserved its order on a petition seeking directions to the government to reveal the names appearing in the list of Indian black money holders in Liechtenstein Bank.

The government is opposing the plea and its contention is that since a committee comprising top officers from CBI, ED, IB and other departments has already been formed to deal with the black money cases, there is no need for another investigation team.

According to solicitor general Gopal Subramanium, the government has already set up a 10-member committee consisting of revenue secretary, RBI deputy director, directors of the CBI, IB, ED, chairman of CBDT, director general of revenue intelligence, chief of narcotics control, director of foreign intelligence office and joint secretary of foreign trade to look into the issue.

The court, however, wanted to know whether the government fad any problem if a retired Supreme Court judge is appointed to monitor the functioning of the committee.

The government objected to this also saying it would affect investigations by the joint panel.