The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on reopening of tax assessment of Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Oscar Fernandes in a case related to the transactions between National Herald and Young Indian Private Limited. The court will take up the matter again on September 10, reported ANI.

All the three Congress leaders had filed separate pleas. On August 13, the bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and AK Chawla listed all the pleas together for hearing.

The court on August 8 refused to grant Rahul Gandhi, who had challenged the reopening of his tax assessment for 2011-’12 by the Income Tax Department in March, interim relief. However, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had told court that the tax department would not take any coercive action against the Congress president till the next hearing.

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Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi are major stakeholders in Young Indian, a private company limited by guarantee, which the Congress has said is a not-for-profit organisation. The other accused include Fernandes, Motilal Vora, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda – all of who have denied the allegations against them.

According to the Income Tax Department, the All India Congress Committee gave Rs 99 crore to Associated Journals Limited, the publisher of three newspapers including the National Herald. Gandhi chose not to disclose that he held the director’s post at the Young Indian. Gandhi’s shares in Young Indian would bring him an income of Rs 154 crore, not Rs 68 lakh as assessed earlier, said the department. Gandhi’s lawyer contended said that since he did not receive any income from the source, he was not liable to pay tax.

In March, Young Indian had asked the court to stay the recovery of Rs 249.1 crore in tax and interest after an earlier notice issued by the tax department for 2011-2012. The company contended that it is a charitable firm and does not have any income. On March 19, the court ordered the Young Indian to pay Rs 10 crore.