Congress Bank Account Restored After Brief Freeze, But It Can't Spend The Money. Here's Why

The ITAT has allowed the Congress party to spend amount over and above Rs 115 crores. But, according to Maken the Congress party has much less than Rs 115 crores on their current account.

The ITAT has allowed the Congress party to operate all bank accounts which were earlier frozen

Source : PTI

Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken on Friday said that the Income Tax Department and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) have lifted the freeze on its bank accounts but has said that the party has to ensure that Rs 115 crores are kept in the banks as lien. The ITAT has allowed the Congress party to spend amount over and above Rs 115 crores. But, according to Maken the Congress party has much less than Rs 115 crores on their current account.

Rajya Sabha MP and Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha appeared for the Congress party in ITAT on Friday and said that the ITAT has allowed the Congress party to operate all bank accounts which were earlier frozen with lien of the Income Tax department thereon. But according to Maken Rs 115 crores will remain frozen which is much more than what the party has in their Current Accounts. The ITAT will hear the party's plea on Wednesday for interim relief.

Rajya Sabha MP and Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha on Friday said that the Income Tax Apallete Tribunal (ITAT) has allowed the Congress party to operate all bank accounts which were earlier frozen with lien of the Income Tax department thereon.

#DemocracyFrozen

On our petition, Income Tax Department and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has said that we have to ensure that Rs 115 crores have to be kept in the Banks. This 115 crore is the lien marked in the Bank Accounts.

We can spend an amount over and above…

— Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) February 16, 2024

Tankha posted his video on the microblogging site X and said that he appeared for the Congress party in front of the ITAT and prayed for relief. 

"All bank accounts of the congress party have been frozen, which means that one of the largest stakeholders will not be able to participate in the coming festival of elections. We will not be able to take up any expenditure related to elections. We had filed return on time, it is being misconstrued and only on that basis we cannot be punished disproportionately. Our revenue for that particular year was 198 crore and we spent admissible expenditure was 197 crore. How a taxation of 115 odd crores has been made on us with interest coming to 135 crores..I would like to argue on merits. But today protect party and democracy and allow us to operate our accounts. " Tankha submitted before the ITAT. 

⁦⁦@INCIndia⁩ can operate its accounts with a lien of the IT Dept thereon !! Direction by Hon ITAT delhi. Prayer for interim relief will be heard on Wednesday. #inc #bankaccounts #initialrelief pic.twitter.com/BqMNG2jUYE

— Vivek Tankha (@VTankha) February 16, 2024

This comes after the Congress party on Friday alleged that four of its main bank accounts were frozen by the Income Tax department on “flimsy grounds”.

According to the Congress treasurer Ajay Maken, the accounts, including that of the Indian Youth Congress, were frozen on an Income Tax demand of Rs 210 crore for 2018-19, an election year.