Justice Balakrishnan wants his IT info out of RTI loop

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Feb 15:  Former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan has reacted to the controversy over his unwillingness to disclose his Income Tax returns. A  query under the Right to Information act had been filed with the Income Tax department at Kochi by T Balachandran, an RTI activist.

Speaking to NDTV, Balakrishnan, whose family is under the Income Tax department’s scanner for amassing wealth beyond known sources of income, said had already disclosed his assets.

"I wrote to authorities not to disclose my I-T returns because it has my PAN number and bank account number. These details may be misused and that is the reason I wanted the authorities not to disclose my I-T returns, nobody would like to reveal personal details," said Balakrishnan.

The I-T department is probing how assets of Balakrishnan’s son-in-law PV Sreenijan allegedly multiplied from Rs. 25,000 to many crores during Balakrishnan’s tenure as the Chief Justice of India.

His brother K G Bhaskaran, who resigned on January 8 as Special Government Pleader in the Kerala High Court, is also under the scanner for buying sixty acres of land in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, allegedly undervaluing the price.

Former Supreme Court Judge Justice VR Krishna Iyer had also made allegations that he was approached by a judge not to take Justice Balakrishnan’s kin’s assets issue too far.