Modi Set To Lift UPA's Veil On Black Money

NEW DELHI: The incoming BJP government with Narendra Modi as PM will withdraw from the Supreme Court the UPA government's petition filed on May 16, when trends had indicated its drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, seeking recall of the court's direction to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) on black money.

A top BJP source told TOI that they would withdraw the petition. "We will deal with it after the government formation process gets over and law officers are in place," the source said.

The UPA government's petition, which sought review of the court's May 4 order, also said it would not divulge the names of LGT Bank account holders to petitioner Ram Jethmalani as it would violate the confidentiality clause in the double taxation avoidance treaty between India and Germany.

In fact, the new review petition reiterated the grounds it had raised in its earlier petition seeking review of the court's July 4, 2011 judgment directing setting up of an SIT headed by a retired SC judge as well as revealing the names of LGT Bank account holders.

After the court dismissed the review petition on May 1 and directed the government three days later to notify the SIT headed by Justice M B Shah, with Justice Arijit Pasayat as his deputy, the UPA government moved the petition seeking to wriggle out of the mandate of the July 4, 2011 judgment, which was reiterated in the May 1 and 4 orders.

The review petition listed 53 grounds, including elaborate arguments on separation of power, virtually telling the court that it was encroaching into the executive's domain by passing orders on how to deal with black money.

The Modi government would have found it difficult to endorse the UPA's last petition in the SC as it has been a votary of acting tough against those who stash illegal money in foreign banks. In fact, it had made it an election issue.