Chennai Container Terminal Pvt.ltd v. Assistant Commissioner Of Income Tax

Tandle IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 64 OF 2020 Chennai Container Terminal Pvt.Ltd VersusAssistant Commissioner of Income Tax Circle-2(1)(1) and Ors. … Petitioner. … Respondents. . . . . . . Mr. S. Sriram i/b. Mr.Sriram Sridharan for Petitioner.Mr. Suresh Kumar for Respondent. . . . . . . CORAM : K. R. SHRIRAM AND N. J. JAMADAR, JJ.DATE : 10[th] JANUARY, 2022(THROUGH VIDEO CONFERENCING) P. C.: 1.Petitioner is impugning a notice dated 31[st] March 2019 issuedunder Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short, ‘the Act’), theorder dated 14[th] November 2019 rejecting Petitioner’s objections to thereopening and the assessment order dated 16[th] December 2019. 2.On 13[th] January 2020, Respondents were directed to file affidavit-in-reply. Till date, no reply is filed. Therefore the allegations inparagraph 32 is not controverted. 3.Shri Sriram Sridharan states that, after filing the Petition, onan Application under the Right to Information Act filed by Petitioner,Petitioner received information that the reopening has been proposedbased on audit objections and in fact the Assessing Officer had even disagreed with the audit objections. 4.Shri Sriram Shridharan states that, if the order on objectionsis also set aside, then Petitioner will file its objections to the notice issuedunder Section 148 in which all these points will be raised and theAssessing Officer may pass such order as he deems fit on the objectionsraised by Petitioner. 5.Shri Suresh Sumar Kumar agrees. 6.In the circumstances, the order on objections passed on 14[th]November, 2019 and the assessment order dated 16[th] December 2019 arequashed and set aside. 7.Petitioner is permitted to file within two weeks from todayfurther objections to the notice dated 31[st] March, 2019 issued underSection 148 and the Assessing Officer may within eight weeks thereafter,pass such order as he deems fit in accordance with law on the objectionsfiled by Petitioner. 8.Before, any such order is passed, the Assessing Officer shallgrant a personal hearing to Petitioner and the date and time of personalhearing shall be intimated to petitioner at least one week in advance. Petition is accordingly disposed. 9.We clarify that, we have not made any observations on the merits of the case. (N. J. JAMADAR, J.) (K. R. SHRIRAM, J.)