Ambika bhardwaj
Published On: January 17, 2022 at 19:49 IST
It is ruled by Delhi High Court that the State was unfair in limiting a person’s right to travel abroad by issuing a Look Out Circular when there was no proof that the right would be deleterious to India’s financial interests.
A Delhi-based businessperson of garment manufacturing lodged a writ petition to quash a Look Out Circular (LOC) issued against him by the Respondents, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Income Tax Department.
The Court stated that the LOC had been in effect for nearly three years, during which time the respondents had taken no action against the petitioner. The Respondents decided to carry out search actions at the Petitioner’s residence and bank locker based on a Warrant of Authorization, resulting in the seizure of numerous assets, such as digital assets and jewellery worth Rs 1,00,67,181.
At this point, the LOC was approved on the grounds of alleged unrevealed foreign assets subject to prosecution underneath the Income Tax Act, the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Tax Imposition Act, 2015, and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
The deficiencies in the Respondent’s LOC were presented by Petitioner’s counsel, Advocate Vikas Pahwa. He stated that many search actions had been undertaken at the Petitioner’s residence for three years since February 2019, but no case had been recorded under the cited legislations as of now.
Furthermore, in response to the Respondent’s issues about the Petitioner’s undisclosed transactions in Dubai, the Petitioner provided certificates from the Government of Dubai attesting that neither the Petitioner nor any of his family members have any assets in Dubai.
Justice Palli agreed that the role is constricted, she ruled out the possibility of a blanket prohibition on judicial review.