U-turn? NDA says treaties won’t bring back black money, just as UPA did

In a repeat of the line taken by the previous UPA government, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi also invoked arguments on “diplomatic relations, international commitments and confidentiality clauses” to urge the Supreme Court to modify its 2011 order which had ordered a complete disclosure of information on people who held tainted money abroad.

The NDA government’s fresh application has in fact questioned the authority of the apex court in issuing orders that had ramifications on the executive government’s power to enter into agreements with foreign governments.

“The power to enter into agreements and treaties with foreign governments is an act solely within the domain of the executive governments… The validity of the terms of such agreement, having international ramifications, would not be justiciable being beyond the purview of judicial review,” said the plea. It also raised issues relating to an individual’s “right to privacy” in such disclosures.

Rohatgi mentioned the matter before a bench led by Chief Justice H L Dattu. The bench agreed to hear the plea on October 28.

The application was stoutly opposed by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who had filed the PIL in 2011 on retrieving black money. The SC had then ordered a court-monitored probe by a special investigation team. Seeking a dismissal of the government plea, Jethmalani accused the incumbent NDA government of trying to protect the culprits.

“Such application should have been made by the culprits and not by the government. It is very serious. I have also written a letter to the Prime Minister on this issue and his response is awaited,” Jethmalani said. The bench, however, said that it was yet to go through the application and fixed it for a hearing post-Diwali.

The government’s application cited various treaties that India has with foreign countries and a new treaty, Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA), which the government sought to sign with the US.

Most of these agreements are said to restrict disclosure to tax-related cases and further put embargoes regarding the manner, the extent as well as the authority with which such information could be shared. Seeking a clarification from the SC that the information received from foreign countries shall be used “only for tax purposes,” the government said not signing the IGA with the US would lead to “serious impairment of the Indian financial system”.

The UPA government had also pleaded the court for changes to its 2011 directives, based on similar grounds, which included limitations on judicial review, maintenance of diplomatic relations and double taxation avoidance agreements that protected unbridled disclosure. The court had, however, thrown out the plea, coming down heavily on the UPA’s laxity in getting black money which was “destroying the economy”.