Bishwajit Bhattacharyya retired as India’s additionalsolicitor-general on Friday, November 9. Hired specifically to fight on behalfof the government on all indirect taxation cases involving thousands of crores,Bhattacharyya says he spent most of his time watching his client (thegovernment) enfeebling him and handing things on a platter to the lawyers ofthe corporate houses.
In a damning book released a day after his retirement titled“My Experience with the Office of Additional Solicitor General” (Universal LawPublishing, 2012), Bhattacharyya recounts how the Union of India (UOI) isdeliberately squandering its tax cases, involving claims of thousands of croresof rupees.
Without naming either Attorney-General GE Vahanvati and orFinance Minister P Chidambaram, Bhattacharyya makes thinly-veiled references toboth of them while making the shocking revelation that “the government expectedme to lose!”
The book tells a sordid and untold story of how India isbeing sold to the saints in our corporate sector. It details how some goodsamaritans sneaked him into the role of ASG (Indirect Taxation) after manyhiccups and how some persons, batting for India Inc., tried to scuttle hisefforts to squeeze out lakhs of crores trapped in government’s legal duels withcorporate godzillas, when they realised the full import of their choice!
Of course, there will be the other side to whatBhattacharyya has written, but few can fault the meticulous detailing and anunprecedented narrative of what every government counsel, slaving for afraction of the payment for the other side, tells you in private, yet doesn’tpen down for fear of burning their boat.
Bhattacharyya describes just who ensures self goals and howthe UOI aligns to ensure that cases are handed over on a platter tobeneficiaries (needless to say, these beneficiaries aren’t ordinary citizenslike us, they are large corporates who have the stakes and the deep pockets topersist to the level of supreme court).
Bhattacharyya book details how some five years back, the UOIdecided to have an ASG each to plug in the horrendous fiscal deficit that wehave. The idea was pious. If the government had specialised law officers fordirect (income tax) and indirect taxes (customs, central excise and servicetax) they would assist the apex court reach satisfactory conclusions to benefitthe country and the exchequer.
But what happened? The first ASG-Indirect Taxes resignedwithin a few months. Bhattacharyya, the next one, was selected after months ofhiccups, his name rejected within FinMin without the knowledge of PranabMukherjee, the finance minister, because of his willingness to tear Unionbudgets and finance ministers to shreds in his avatar as columnist for TheEconomic Times and budget analyst on Zee News. He had to escalate the matter upto Mukherjee, meeting him for the first time in his life.
But his ordeals did not end. For someone finally hiredbecause of his expertise in indirect taxes, Bhattacharyya was dumped only withcases on income tax, somewhat like Sehwag being told to play hockey instead!That too with briefs that would land in the middle of the night, peons whoexpected to be bribed, no office or staff, and crucial pages torn and missing!
in association with Governance Now
