Kalaignar TV office. File
| Photo Credit: R. Ragu
The 18-year-old alleged 2G spectrum scam has come back to haunt Kalaignar TV Private Limited, with the Income Tax (I-T) department reviving its inquiry into the receipt of ₹200 crore by the television channel during the assessment years 2009-10 and 2010-11.
The Madras High Court has, however, granted an interim stay of all further proceedings pursuant to a writ petition filed by the television channel challenging the summons issued to it by the I-T department on August 12, 2025, for giving evidence and producing books of accounts.
In its affidavit, the TV channel told the court it had filed I-T returns showing to have suffered a loss of ₹3.59 crore and ₹6.39 crore in the assessment years 2009-10 and 2010-11 respectively. An Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax refused to accept the returns.
After completing the assessments on March 28, 2013, the officer determined the income of the channel to be ₹21.41 crore in 2009-10 and ₹177.27 crore in 2010-11. Though the assessment order was taken on appeal, it got confirmed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) in March 2015.
On further appeal, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal set aside the assessment order in December 2016 and remitted the matter to the Assistant Commissioner for a de novo consideration. In 2017, the department began the inquiry again by calling for documents from the television channel.
A show-cause notice was also issued seeking explanation as to why the ₹200 crore received by the channel from Cineyug Media and Entertainment Private Limited should not be considered as undisclosed income on the basis of the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the 2G spectrum case.
Though the TV channel submitted records to prove the genuineness of the transactions and also highlighted that a special court in Delhi had acquitted all the accused in the 2G spectrum case, the Assistant Commissioner went ahead and confirmed the additions proposed in the show-cause notice.
Immediately, the petitioner channel initiated a second round of litigation against the assessment order passed on December 31, 2017. Even as the appeal proceedings were pending for eight years, suddenly the Assistant Director of Income Tax (Investigation) had begun an inquiry since June 2025, the channel complained.
Questioning the authority of the Assistant Director to do so, the channel filed the present writ petition challenging a notice issued by the officer on June 11, 2025 and also the summons issued on August 12, 2025.
Published – October 02, 2025 03:37 pm IST
