Hundreds of tax professionals, including chartered accountants, advocates, company secretaries and income tax practitioners, staged a protest in Ludhiana on Tuesday against what they termed an “illegal and unconstitutional” search conducted by the Punjab Police at the office of a chartered accountant earlier this month, even as police said the action was part of an investigation into the 328 missing saroops (scriptures) of the Guru Granth Sahib.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Amritsar, with the help of local police, had raided the office of chartered accountant Ashwani Sharma in Tagore Nagar, Block B, Ludhiana, on January 9 in connection with the probe into the missing saroops. During the raid, the team confiscated various records, including a CCTV digital video recorder (DVR). At the time of the raid, local politicians and members of the chartered accountants’ fraternity had staged a protest and engaged in a verbal spat with police personnel.
On Tuesday, members of various professional bodies — including the District Taxation Bar Association (Direct Taxes), Federation of Chartered Accountants Associations, All India Federation of Tax Practitioners (NZ), Punjab Tax Bar Association, Indirect Taxes Consultants Association and District Taxation Bar Association (Sales Tax) — gathered outside the office of the deputy commissioner and submitted a memorandum, addressed to the President of India, seeking intervention in the matter.
Addressing the gathering, CA IS Khurana alleged that the police entered the professional premises without a search warrant and seized hard-copy files, three laptops containing confidential client data and other records.
CA Rajiv Kaushal claimed that the DVR was taken away forcibly, alleging that its removal pointed towards an attempt to conceal the police action from public scrutiny.
CA Vishal Garg described the incident as a blatant violation of constitutional rights and a direct attack on the rule of law, saying the action ignored judicial safeguards and standard operating procedures laid down by courts and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
CA Rajeev K. Sharma cited the Delhi High Court ruling in Puneet Batra vs Union of India, which held that professional premises and electronic devices are protected by professional privilege and cannot be accessed without due legal process.
Advocate Saket Garg said that under Section 96 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, police are required to obtain a search warrant except in exceptional circumstances, which must be recorded in writing, alleging that due procedure was not followed.
Deputy commissioner Himanshu Jain heard the delegation and assured them that their memorandum would be forwarded to the President of India Droupadi Murmu and other appropriate authorities.
Around 300 professionals from across Punjab, Chandigarh and Jammu participated in the protest.
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