The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking a probe into finance minister Arun Jaitley’s July press statement that assured the investors that the government will not take any “knee-jerk” reaction (on circulation of Participatory Notes) that will adversely impact country’s investment climate.
The finance minister had issued the statement after the Supreme Court-appointed special investigation team (SIT) on black money had suggested that market regulator Sebi should take stronger measures to identify the owners of P-notes and offshore derivative instruments, and also take steps to curb black money and tax evasion through the stock market route.
Terming such a statement by the finance minister as “illegal and unconstitutional,” the petition filed by one ML Sharma, a lawyer, contended that the press statement was contrary to various laws like money laundering, and therefore a CBI probe should be initiated into it. He also sought setting aside of the press release, a demand that additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain rejected outrightly.
A bench headed by Justice BD Ahmed while dismissing Sharma’s plea observed that a recommendation by the SIT on the issue of P-Notes was not the Supreme Court’s direction and, therefore, a stand contrary to this was not against the laws, as argued by Sharma.
The judges said that the entire case relied heavily on the assumption that P-Notes are illegal, which government has convincingly proved to be false. Jain had argued that P-Notes investment through FPIs in India are well regulated and Sebi guidelines cover offshore Derivative Instruments such as P-Notes, equity-linked notes, etc.
The bench also directed Sharma to withdraw parts of his plea that had cast aspersions on Jaitley in the form of “innuendo” and warned that any non-compliance would attract fine. The court, however, rejected the government’s demand to impose “exemplary cost” on the petitioner for initiating such a case.
| Subscribe To Our Free Newsletter |
