Taking suo motu cognisance of forceful eviction of yoga guru Baba Ramdev and his followers from the Ramlila grounds here on Sunday, the Supreme Court on Monday sought the Centre’s response on the incident.
The local police had cracked down on Baba Ramdev and thousands of his supporters, forcibly ending their hunger strike on the issues of corruption and black money.
A vacation bench of justices BS Chauhan and Swatenter Kumar sought reply from the Union home secretary, chief secretary of Delhi, the Delhi administration and the Delhi Police commissioner as to what led to the use of force to disperse people in the wee hours.
The court posted the matter for hearing in the second week of July. However, it declined to entertain a petition filed by advocate Ajay Aggarwal and expressed its displeasure over leaking of the petition to the media. ? We are shocked to learn that before the file reaches us, the contents have been published in the media. All grounds raised in the petition have been published in the newspaper(s). Further, it has been reported that the matter has been listed for hearing today at 10.30 am. Why is it so?? the Bench asked.
The petitioner had sought a direction to the government to issue a white paper on the entire episode leading to the eviction of the yoga guru and the alleged barbaric police action against his followers.
The petition said the government should explain the entire sequence of events, including the details of its negotiations with Baba Ramdev.
Action against Baba only if we get credible info: I-T
The income tax department will take action against Baba Ramdev only if it gets credible information about tax evasion by 200 companies in which he and his associates are allegedly involved, government sources said on Monday.
?We can act after getting details on tax evasion by Ramdev and his firms and if the tax exemptions given to Baba is misused,? The yoga guru’s medicine business enjoys various income tax exemptions.
On Saturday, the Delhi police forcibly shut down the protest by Ramdev at the Ramlila maidan in the capital. Among others, Baba was demanding to bring in black money stashed by Indians abroad, declaring it as national asset.
The government’s committee under the chairmanship of the chief of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is likely to meet on June 9. The panel would explore the feasibility to declare illegal money as national asset, one of the demands raised by Ramdev. Besides, the committee will examine ways for strengthening laws to curb generation of black money and prevent its transfer abroad.