Mumbai: Under attack by the Samajwadi Party and Amitabh Bachchan's fans for issuing notices to the superstar and his family, the Income Tax department on Tuesday said it was not targeting anyone.

``We are not here to harass anyone. If notices have been issued to anyone, the person concerned has to reply to them while the law will take its course,'' Commissioner H. Tulsiyan told reporters shortly after the fans staged a sit-in outside an income tax office in south Mumbai. Wearing Amitabh Bachchan T-shirts and dark glasses, they shouted slogans against the Centre.

Denying that the Bachchans were ``singled out and harassed,'' Mr. Tulsiyan said: "We do make enquiries about suspected income tax defaulters in the normal course of our functioning but we certainly don't target anyone.''

To a question about Mr. Bachchan and his family being served tax notices, he said, ``I will not comment on individual cases. The department will proceed as per law.''

Asked about the protest, Mr. Tulsiyan said if anyone had complaints, he could approach any forum or appropriate authority for redress.

No notice for sunglasses

The Commissioner specifically denied that notice was issued to Mr. Bachchan for a pair of sunglasses, claimed to be worth Rs 2.7 lakh, gifted to the actor by S. Ramnathan, director of his film Zamanat.

Mr. Tulsiyan parried a question whether the Bachchans were served notice for tax arrears due from their family firm Lotus Investment, saying he would not talk about individual cases. In Lucknow, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh told reporters that ``repeated'' serving of notices was meant to "harass" Mr. Bachchan. He denied the charge that his party was sponsoring protests in favour of the actor on this issue.

The Income Tax department also reopened a 12-year-old case to harass Mr. Bachchan, Mr. Singh claimed. ``Is it justified to ask Mr. Amitabh whether he is an artist when the whole world knows that?''

Tax cut not allowed

The department recently decided not to allow tax cuts, available to artists, in the case of Mr. Bachchan for income got from hosting a TV show.

This month Mr. Bachchan shot off an angry letter to income tax authorities, saying it was ``most improbable'' that the sunglasses he wore in Zamanat would cost Rs 2.7 lakh.

The Bachchans have also submitted documents to show that the house `Jalsa' — about whose ownership and registration the department had made queries — was legally gifted by Mr. Bachchan's sister-in-law Ramola in 1993 and that all related taxes and stamp duty were paid.

In New Delhi, Congress leader Jayanthi Natarajan said her party had nothing to do with the matter. She charged the Samajwadi Party with trying to make a political issue of something that was ``purely between the Income Tax department and the assessee."

Ms. Natarajan said: ``The Samajwadi Party's attempt to make this a political issue will set a wrong precedent in the polity.''

PTI

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