New Delhi, Ahmedabad:
At its first cabinet meeting today, the Narendra Modi government gave the go ahead for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to bring back the black money stashed abroad. The committee will be headed by retired Supreme court judge, Justice M B Shah.
Speaking to NDTV, Justice Shah said though the probe into black money was a challenging task, he was hopeful that results will start coming soon.
"We have handled various important probes in the past following the Supreme Court ruling and we will try our best to have an indepth probe in the case," he said.
Mr Shah also said that with members from other official agencies also involved, the probe could be streamlined. "We will be monitoring the investigations and ensure that the entire gamut is covered," he said.
The committee will also have former Supreme Court judge Justice Arijit Pasayat as the vice chairman and will be assisted by the Revenue Secretary, directors of CBI, Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and Enforcement Directorate, the CBDT Chairman and an RBI deputy governor.
"It is a sensitive assignment and a challenging job. The job is massive and involves lot of international transactions. It is a very big challenge before us. But the Supreme Court has imposed confidence on us and we will do whatever possible and will not hesitate to take any action," Justice Pasayat told NDTV.
The Supreme Court, which appointed the two judges, had last week granted the government time till Wednesday to set up the SIT.
The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi held its first meeting today in which it named the members of the SIT.
"In the first Cabinet of the new government... in the light of the directions of the Supreme Court, we have constituted an SIT for unearthing black money. This was an important issue for us," Law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said after a one-and-a-half-hour Cabinet meeting.
"Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the last date (for setting up of SIT), therefore the very first agenda in accordance with its policy commitment was to have this very high-profile SIT," he added.
Mr Prasad said setting up of the SIT "indicates the commitment of the new government to pursue the issue of black money."