Supreme Court asks new government to notify SIT on black money by May 29

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday gave the incoming Narendra Modi government time until May 29 to notify a Special Investigation Team to probe black money stashed in foreign banks by Indians.

The court was hearing a request by outgoing Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran that the existing government was only a caretaker and the court’s three-week deadline, issued on May 1, would not give the new government enough time to take a decision.

A vacation bench, comprising Justices BS Chauhan and AK Sikri, gave the new government another week to finish the task and directed that documents relating to black money be kept in the safe custody of a secretary-level officer of the revenue department.

At the hearing, petitioner and former BJP MP, Ram Jethmalani, accused the UPA government of being careless with the secret files. “You have burnt down Shashtri Bhavan. Now don’t burn down North Block,” he told Parasaran.

Parasaran, however, said, “Anyway (the BJP) they will be there from Monday. I am sure their fire safety measures will be better.”