The Madras High Court on Tuesday refused to quash a criminal complaint lodged by the Income Tax department against DMK MP D.M. Kathir Anand before a Judicial Magistrate in Vellore in 2016 for having allegedly not filed his returns for the assessment year 2013-14 and the consequent charge of evasion of tax.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh dismissed the MP’s quash petition pending in the High Court since 2017 and held that the presumption of culpable state of mind under Section 278E of the Income Tax Act could be overturned by the petitioner only by facing the trial proceedings to establish his innocence.
He further stated that it would be beyond the jurisdiction of the High Court, under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, to quash the proceedings by disregarding the statutory presumption. The MP could not also escape from prosecution by having filed the returns during the extended period, he added.
