Journalism of Courage
While the IPL tag may have put these in the spotlight,surveys,searches and seizures by Income-Tax officials are fairly routine,including in high-profile cases.
Officials have so far surveyed premises of Red Chillies Entertainment,a company owned by Shah Rukh Khan,who owns the majority stake in Kolkata Knight Riders; Khans office; and the offices of India Cements,the owner of Chennai Super Kings; and of Deccan Chargers,Kings XI Punjab and GMR,the owner of Delhi Daredevils.
While surveys are conducted under Section 133 A of the Income Tax Act and should start during normal business hours,searches can be conducted any time of the day. A search is ordered by a director,Investigation,or a commissioner-level officer and conducted by an assistant director who heads the team,while a survey can be ordered by a junior I-T officer also and can be done by an inspector.
During survey,IT officials look into documents such as books of account,bank accounts,cash,stock and non-valuable documents. Originals are normally returned.
However,wherever searches have been conducted,I-T officials have impounded documents,valuables,computers and information prima facie is believed to have not been disclosed.
Another twist to the unravelling IPL story is the routing of funds from tax havens. I-T officials will invoke the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement DTAA with countries like Mauritius and Dubai. However,with countries not having a DTAA with India,the department would need a go-ahead from the Ministry of External Affairs,which could be a long-drawn process.
