Deccan Herald: New Delhi: Wednesday,
August 17, 2016.
The Income
Tax Department has sought the permission of Sachin Tendulkar, nominated to the
Rajya Sabha as a sportsman, to disclose his I-T returns in response to an
RTI query.
The RTI
applicant is a lawyer who sought to know whether the cricket legend had claimed
to be an actor to get tax exemptions.
Bengaluru-based
Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of I-T S Anjana wrote to Tendulkar on
July 14 asking him to “make a submission” within 10 days if he has any
objection to making public the information on his “declared profession” in the
I-T Returns (ITRs). Even if he says no, the final decision rests with the tax
department’s CPIO, explained I-T sources.
The Central
Information Commission recently directed unwilling tax authorities to furnish
details to Supreme Court lawyer Pranesh who had sought to know if Tendulkar
filed his returns as an ‘actor’ or a ‘sportsman’.
He was
nominated to the Upper House in 2012 and two years later was awarded the Bharat
Ratna, taking into account his immense contribution to cricket. Prior to that,
Tendulkar was allowed by an Income Tax Tribunal in Mumbai to ask for tax
exemptions on the earnings he made through product endorsements.
In the ITR,
an assessee has to mention his profession since different heads of income may
attract different taxes. The assessee has to reveal the head under which income
derived from various sources should be taxed.
Earlier, the
department had refused to share Tendulkar’s ITR on the grounds that disclosure
of “personal information” was barred from the RTI Act. Central Information
Commissioner Basant Seth, however, overruled this after the applicant argued
that Tendulkar, being an MP, was a public servant and his ITRs should be in
public domain.
Seth quoted a
Supreme Court judgement to order that personal information cannot be withheld
if the CPIO is convinced that larger public interest justifies the disclosure.
Speaking to
DH, advocate Pranesh validated his relentless quest to seek Tendulkar’s tax
returns on the plea that “the nation should know what he has declared in the
revenue records and the grounds on which he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha
and bestowed the Bharat Ratna”. The lawyer’s contention is that his initial
identity is that of a cricketer.
The lawyer
had in the past filed an RTI with the Rashtrapati Bhavan Secretariat questioning
the then United Progressive Alliance government’s decision to confer the
highest civilian award on Tendulkar, who had been advertising for private
companies.
The ace
batsman’s rooting for products did not conform to “high standards and dignified
conduct” of a member of the Rajya Sabha, he had protested. However, Parliament
rules do not bar MPs from appearing in advertisements.
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