Six Tata Trusts withdraw pleas against IT dept notices

Mumbai: Six Tata Trusts have withdrawn their petitions filed in the Bombay high court challenging the show cause notices issued against them by the Income Tax department as to why their registrations should not be cancelled.

The Income Tax commissioner (Exemptions) had issued notices to these six trusts on March 8 this year for alleged non-compliance of rules governing the trust funds. The notices sought to know why their registrations under Section 12A of the Income Tax Act should not be cancelled for non-compliance.

Following this, the trusts, including the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust, Jamsetji Tata Trust and the Tata Education Trust, had petitioned the high court challenging the notices. The trusts had already surrendered their tax registrations in 2015, the petitions said. In April this year, the high court had granted an interim stay on the notices and said it would hear the petitions.

When the petitions came up for hearing on Monday before a division bench, the trusts’ lawyers sought to withdraw the pleas without assigning any reason.