Blm College Of Nursing v. Income Tax Officer, Ward 6(2), Jaipur

[2025:RJ-JP:7279-DB] HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN BENCH AT JAIPUR D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 14730/2022 Blm College Of Nursing, Having Its Address At E-5, RiicoIndustiral Area, Tonk Road, Sitapura, Jaipur - 302022 ThroughIts Secretary Mr. Amit Meharda ----Petitioner Versus Income Tax Officer, Ward 6(2), Jaipur Having Its Address At NewCentral Revenue Building, Bhagwan Dass Road, Jaipur - 302005 ----Respondent For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Siddharth Ranka with Ms. Apeksha Bapna and Mr. Rohan Chatter For Respondent(s) : Mr. Sandeep Pathak HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AVNEESH JHINGAN HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ASHUTOSH KUMAR Order 19/02/2025-AVNEESH JHINGAN, J (ORAL): 1.This petition is filed seeking quashing of order dated26.03.2022 passed under Section 148 A(d) of the Income Tax Act,1961 (for short ‘the Act’). 2.The brief facts are that the petitioner for Assessment Year2015-16 did not file return as the petitioner was exempt underSection 10(23C) of the Act and the receipt during the year wasless than one crore. On 16.03.2022, notice u/s 148A(b) of the Actwas issued along with reasons for re-opening. The petitioner filedobjections dated 22.03.2022. The objections were rejected videimpugned order. Hence, the present petition. 3.Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the impugnedorder is a non-speaking order. The objections raised have not beendealt with in accordance with law. Reliance is placed upon decisionof this court in R.K. Buildcreations Private Limited vs. Income Tax Officer reported in [{2024} 462 ITR 478 (Raj.)].4.Learned counsel for the respondent defends the impugnedorder. Submission is that the order was passed after providing anopportunity of hearing to the petitioner. 5.Section 148-A of the Act prescribes the procedure to befollowed for initiating proceedings u/s 148 of the Act. Theassessee is to be supplied the information relied upon for initiatingre-assessment and also outcome of the enquiry conducted, if any.Before deciding the issue as to whether it is a fit case to proceedu/s 148 of the Act, the petitioner is to be provided an opportunityof hearing by issuing notice specifying the date of not less thanseven days but not exceeding thirty days. The order u/s 148A(d)is to be passed within one month from ending of the month whenreply was filed and in case of non filing of reply within one monthfrom expiry of the time given to file reply. 6.The department issued guidelines dated 01/08/2022 withregard to issuance of notice u/s 148 of the Act. Clause xi and xiideals with reply to be considered and order to be passed u/s 148A (d) are quoted below:- “xi. The AO has to consider the reply of assesseefurnished, if any, in response to the show cause noticereferred to in clause(b) of Section 148A before passingthe order u/s 148A(d). xii. The AO shall mandatorily pass a speaking order u/s148A(d) in all cases with the 'prior approval of thespecified authority' (Annexure-A2) for such order u/s.148A(d), expect in the cases covered in Para 2.1(iii)above of these guidelines, irrespective of whetherissuance of notice u/s 148 is being recommended ornot. A template of such order u/s. 148A(d) is enclosedat Annexure-A3.” 7.As per the procedure prescribed u/s 148A of the Act andaccording to the guidelines, the reply filed by the petitioner has tobe considered. The Assessing Officer is obligated to pass aspeaking order. In other words, principles of natural justice havebeen specifically made part of the procedure. 8.It is trite law that a quasi judicial officer has to not onlyrecord reasons but also communicate it to the affected party andit also facilitates in judicial scrutiny of the order. 9.The impugned order is bereft of reasons. After reproducingthe notices and reply filed by the petitioner, the operative part ofthe order is that the reply filed by the petitioner is not foundtenable as assessee had not filed income tax return. 7.As per the procedure prescribed u/s 148A of the Act andaccording to the guidelines, the reply filed by the petitioner has tobe considered. The Assessing Officer is obligated to pass aspeaking order. In other words, principles of natural justice havebeen specifically made part of the procedure. 8.It is trite law that a quasi judicial officer has to not onlyrecord reasons but also communicate it to the affected party andit also facilitates in judicial scrutiny of the order. 9.The impugned order is bereft of reasons. After reproducingthe notices and reply filed by the petitioner, the operative part ofthe order is that the reply filed by the petitioner is not foundtenable as assessee had not filed income tax return. 10.The objections raised by the petitioner interalia that u/s10(23C) and the receipts were less than one crore was notconsidered. No reasons have been given for rejecting theobjections. The impugned order is set aside. The matter isremitted back to the respondent to decide the matter inaccordance with law after providing an opportunity of hearing. 11.The writ petition is allowed. (ASHUTOSH KUMAR),J Simple Kumawat /64 Whether Reportable:Yes (AVNEESH JHINGAN),J