Modi meets PM; protests IT notice to Gujarat govt over VGS

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here and protested the notice from Income Tax department to the state government over MoUs signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

The I-T notice had sought details of all such MoUs signed during the Summit in January, where companies had pledged investments of over Rs 1,000 crore.

Modi met Singh, who is here to take part in the annual convocation ceremony of IIM (Ahmedabad), at the circuit house here and strongly protested the I-T notice, sources in the Chief Minister's office said.

"The Prime Minister agreed with Modi that this should not have happened. He has promised to look into the issue," the sources claimed. The meeting was not scheduled in PM's programme.

The I-T department, in a letter sent to the state government, stated that an inquiry was pending in connection with the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011, and "the details of the MoUs signed by various corporate entities with the Government of Gujarat need to be examined."

The letter, dated February 17, was signed by Deputy Director (investigations), Ahmedabad, Anurag Sharma. Inquiry was being conducted under section 131 (1A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, it said.