Ahmedabad:
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Ahmedabad and protested the notice from Income Tax Department to the state government over MoUs signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
The I-T notice had sought details of all such MoUs signed during the Summit in January, where companies had pledged investments of over Rs 1,000 crore.
Modi met Singh, who was in Ahmedabad to take part in the annual IIM convocation ceremony, at the circuit house and strongly protested the I-T notice, sources in the Chief Minister's office said. (
Read: PM at IIM Ahmedabad, Modi too)
The meeting was not scheduled in PM's programme.
The I-T department, in a letter sent to the state government, stated that an inquiry was pending in connection with the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011, and "the details of the MoUs signed by various corporate entities with the Government of Gujarat need to be examined."
The letter, dated February 17, was signed by Deputy Director (investigations), Ahmedabad, Anurag Sharma. Inquiry was being conducted under section 131 (1A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, it said.
The state government strongly objected to the I-T notice, saying that it was "injustice".
As many as 7,936 MoUs, drawing investment to the tune of Rs 20.83 lakh crore, were signed during Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011.
Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Ahmedabad-based Adani Group, Essar, Larsen and Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra among others had announced major investments in Gujarat during the summit.