Will Kejriwal bow under I-T Dept pressure?

New Delhi: Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal has to deposit Rs 9.5 lakh by Thursday after being issued a notice by the Income Tax Department. The notice was served a week before Anna Hazare kicked off his anti-corruption crusade on August 16 at Ramlila Maidan.

Kejriwal, who is in the midst of a controversy over payments due from him from the government for alleged violation of service norms, was issued notices by the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax (CCIT) Delhi for clearance of his dues of Rs 9.27 lakh on August 5.

Kejriwal, who was an Indian Revenue Service officer, has been accused of violating bond conditions as his resignation from government service was still pending.

The dues had accumulated over the alleged violation of bond clauses under which Kejriwal had gone abroad on study leave for two years between November 2000 and 2002.

Incidentally, officially, Kejriwal is still an IRS employee as the department has not accepted his resignation tendered in 2006.

The I-T Department maintains that Kejriwal violated bond conditions and his resignation, will be accepted only once the dues are cleared.

When the Delhi CCIT had written to him in 2007 and 2008 for clearance of his dues, Kejriwal had responded that they may be waived.

A defiant Arvind Kejriwal on September 2 called the I-T Department's notice on him a political move and said that the department is doing this under pressure from its political bosses.

"I had resigned in February, 2006 and fulfilled bond condition of three years," Kejriwal said accusing the government of misinterpreting the bond.

Defending himself, Kejriwal said that after resigning in 2006, he had a correspondence with the I-T department for a year. "I had told them even if they assume that I violated the bond, they have the power to wave it off if it is a case of public interest. So I requested them. But they refused," Kejriwal claimed.

Kejriwal said that he showed them his bank account that had only Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. "I told them that I have donated most of the money I received in awards. For four years they never responded. Now on August 5, their letter came" Kejriwal said questioning the timing of the notice.

Kejriwal claimed that he has not violated the bond condition. "I don't have to give them Rs 9 lakh. They have to give me my GPF money," he said.

(With additional information from PTI)