Government Dirty Tricks Departments

On eve of Anna fast, I-T dept asked Kejriwal to pay dues of Rs 9 lakh
Himanshi Dhawan, TNN | Sep 2, 2011, 01.18AM IST

NEW DELHI: Anna Hazare's chief aide Arvind Kejriwal was slapped a notice by the Income Tax department asking him to pay dues of more than Rs 9 lakh a week before the Gandian was to launch his fast and at a time when Team Anna was engaged in a high voltage clash with the government.

The I-T department -- that has still not accepted Kejriwal's resignation from the Indian Revenue Service tendered in February 2006 and continues to recognize him as a government servant -- has held that he violated bond conditions. His resignation, according to the government, can only be accepted once the dues are cleared.

Kejriwal has denied this contention saying he had not violated any conditions and questioned the timing of the notice which he said was being hastily pursued after a lull of over two years.

In a reply submitted on Thursday to the department, the anti-corruption campaigner said he had not violated any bond conditions. He said the bond he signed only said that he should not resign or retire during the period of study leave, stressing that he had not violated either of the conditions.

The I-T department has accused Kejriwal of not returning to government service after the sanctioned study leave. It has demanded that he return two years' salary amounting to Rs 3.50 lakh and interest accumulated so far of Rs 4.16 lakh. Kejriwal had also taken a computer loan of which Rs 50,000 was due and interest accumulated amounted to Rs 1 lakh.

In his reply, Kejriwal said, "I wish to state I have not violated any bond condition... The bond says that I will have to pay the penalty... in the event of my failing to resume duty or resigning or retiring from service or quitting service without returning to duty after the expiry or termination of period of study leave or failing to complete the course of study at any time within period of 3 years after my return from duty."

Kejriwal said he took study leave from November 1, 2000 to October 31, 2002 and joined back work on November 1, 2002. "I completed three years in October 1, 2005 and I resigned only in February 2006. There is no question of my violating any bond conditions," he said. He was on unpaid leave between 2004-2006.

He also said that communications had been sent to the I-T department asking it to cut the computer loan amount pending against his GPF. "I have in my correspondence to the department attached copies of my bank statements clarifying that I have no money and the dues can be recovered from my GPF. I have not violated any bond conditions but even if I have, the department has the power to waive off the dues as I have been working in public interest," he said.

I had mentioned in many of my earlier blog posts that the CBI was the pet poodle of the government. It holds the CBI on leash and then directs it to attack anyone who may become inconvenient to the government.
We have seen recently how the CBI has been unleashed on Jagan, son of the former, now dead, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh,Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Mind you, I hold no brief for Jagan. He is a spoilt brat who believes that since his father was the chief minister, he should inherit the post. However, I object to the process. If Jagan had unaccounted money the raid should have been conducted when his father was alive. When YSR was alive, Jagan was a blue eyed boy but when he rebelled, his wealth is being investigated.
The Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax department are similarly used by the government to harass its opponents. As long as you are in the governments good books, you can getaway with anything, even murder. If, however, you fall out, these two departments will pounce on you.
We have seen how the ED has pounced on Swami Ramdeo and now the IT department is bent of harassing Arvind Kejriwal.The Delhi Police is harassing the Bhushans in the matter of the CDs.