The Delhi High Court ruled that the income tax department ought to maintain confidentiality of seized material from Newslaundry under Section 138 of Income Tax Act.
The Petitioners, Newslaundry are heading a news organization, the Petitioners herein have sources, contacts and other information on the digital machines. It is the fiduciary duty of the Petitioners to protect them and keep it confidential.
Senior counsel Siddhartha Dave, representing the petitioners stated that the apprehension of a leak would not have arisen had the department given them an opportunity to delete personal data before taking it away.
The seized data might contain personal photos and information pertaining to investigative stories. The senior lawyer argued that any data breach would be in violation of right to privacy and therefore a direction should be passed to the Income Tax authorities to not leak any data and delete whatever is of no relevance to the proceedings.
“It is further submitted that the legal communication regarding existing cases is present in the personal laptop and phone of the Petitioners. If in any circumstances, the leaks are committed, it shall be a clear breach of the attorney client privilege as well as whistleblowers confidentiality,” the plea added.
Seized material is in safe custody of the Income Tax department. Seized material shall not be leaked. It will be illegal to leak such material, said lawyer Ajit Sharma for the department.
The respondent assures and undertakes before the court that the seized material shall not be leaked and the concept of confidentiality as enshrined in the Income Tax Act shall be abided. The said undertaking given by the respondent is accepted by the court and respondent is held bound by it, the court recorded.
The division bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Navin Chawla held that the Income Tax department is bound by its assurance to maintain confidentiality of the material seized during a survey operation at news portal Newslaundry’s premises and to ensure that it is not leaked.
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