Travellers who carry huge amounts of cash cannot complain
of harassment and delay at airports if investigating officers
detain them to inquire about the source and legitimacy of
the money, the Supreme Court ruled in
Rajendran vs Additional Commissioner of Income Tax.
In this case, this passenger, who was also an NRI, boarded
from Hyderabad to Chennai, with Rs 65 lakh in cash drawn
from a bank with its certificate. He was planning to buy property
in Chennai.
But when he landed in Chennai, he was detained
for 15 hours by tax officials.
Ultimately he was freed, but he had
to suffer the harassment and the media also reported
a distorted version due to a ‘leak’ from the authorities.
The court dismissed the petition of the traveller stating
that as the country was facing terrorist threat and
black money, such probe was inevitable. In view of this
problem, the CBDT has issued guidelines last month to
air intelligence units to avoid inconvenience to passengers.
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