Onkar Laboratories Pvt Ltd v. Union Of India And Ors

IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTAConstitutional Writ JurisdictionOriginal Side Present :- Hon’ble Mr. Justice Md. Nizamuddin W.P.O. No. 446 of 2021 ONKAR LABORATORIES PVT LTDVs.UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. With W.P.O. No. 484 of 2021, W.P.O. No. 3 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 5 of2022, W.P.O. No. 7 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 8 of 2022, W.P.O. No.10 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 11 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 12 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 13 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 14 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 15of 2022, W.P.O. No. 19 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 21 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 23 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 24 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 33of 2022, W.P.O. No. 34 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 35 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 39 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 44 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 49of 2022, W.P.O. No. 68 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 69 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 70 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 71 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 72of 2022, W.P.O. No. 73 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 74 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 75 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 76 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 77of 2022, W.P.O. No. 78 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 79 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 80 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 81 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 82of 2022, W.P.O. No. 83 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 84 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 85 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 86 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 87of 2022, W.P.O. No. 88 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 89 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 90 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 91 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 92of 2022, W.P.O. No. 93 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 94 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 95 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 96 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 97of 2022, W.P.O. No. 98 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 99 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 100 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 101 of 2022, W.P.O. No.102 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 103 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 104 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 105 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 106 of 2022, W.P.O. No.107 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 108 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 109 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 110 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 111 of 2022, W.P.O. No.112 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 113 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 114 of 2022,W.P.O. No. 115 of 2022 For the Petitioners :- Mr. Salil Kapoor,Mr. Soumya Singh, Ms. Ananya Kapoor, Ms. Falguni Rambhasha,Mr. Anirudhya Dutta, Mr. Rohit Jain, Mr. Aniket D. Agarwal, Mr. Saksham Singhal,Mr. Subash Agarwal, Mr. Brijesh Kumar Singh, Mr. Avijit Dey, Mr. PratyushJhunjhunwala, Mr. Samit Rudra, Mr. Arvind Agarwal, Mr. Farhan Ghaffar, Ms.Susmita Chakraborty, Ms. Amani Kayan, Mr. Zubeen Panday, Ms. Swapna Das,Mr. Siddharth Das, Advocates For the Respondents :- Mr. Smarajit Roy Chowdhury, Mr. P.K. Bhaumick, Mr. Tilak Mitra, Advocates Dated : 21[st] January, 2022 MD. NIZAMUDDIN, J. Heard Learned Counsels appearing for the parties. In view of involvement of common question of law and similarity of factsin all these Writ Petitions, with the consent of the parties all these WritPetitions have been heard together and are being decided by the presentcommon judgement and order. Common facts and issues involved in all these Writ Petitions as appearon perusal of relevant record and upon considering the submissions of theparties are that the petitioners are aggrieved by the issuance of impugnednotices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on the ground thatthe same are barred by limitation and the respondent Income Tax Authorityconcerned, before issuing the impugned notices under Section 148 of theIncome Tax Act, have not observed the statutory formalities under Section148 A of the Income Tax Act as prescribed by the Finance Act, 2021 which are applicable with effect from 1[st] April, 2021 before issuance of noticesunder Section 148 of the Act on or after 1[st] April, 2021. Common facts and issues involved in all these Writ Petitions as appearon perusal of relevant record and upon considering the submissions of theparties are that the petitioners are aggrieved by the issuance of impugnednotices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on the ground thatthe same are barred by limitation and the respondent Income Tax Authorityconcerned, before issuing the impugned notices under Section 148 of theIncome Tax Act, have not observed the statutory formalities under Section148 A of the Income Tax Act as prescribed by the Finance Act, 2021 which are applicable with effect from 1[st] April, 2021 before issuance of noticesunder Section 148 of the Act on or after 1[st] April, 2021. Issues arising in all the present Writ Petitions are purely legal and in allthese Writ Petitions the assessees/petitioners have sought relief of quashingof the impugned re-assessment notices issued post 31[st] March, 2021 by therespondent Income Tax Authority concerned under Section 148 of theIncome Tax Act, assessees/petitioners have also sought relief by way of adeclaration declaring Explanations A(a)(ii)/A(b) to the Notification No. 20[S.O. 1432 (E) dated 31[st] March, 2021 and Notification No. 38 [S.O.1703 (E)]dated 27[th] April, 2021 to the extent that the same extend the applicability ofthe “provisions of Section 148, Section 149 and Section 151 of the Act, asthe case may be, as they stood as on the 31[st] March, 2021, before thecommencement of the Finance Act, 2021” to the period beyond 31[st] March,2021 as ultra vires the parent legislation, viz., The Taxation and Other Laws(Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 (hereinafterreferred to as ‘ Relaxation Act, 2020’). At the outset, all the counsels appearing for the parties jointlysubmitted that the issues involved in these Writ Petitions are covered by thedecision of the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dated 30[th]September, 2021 in the case of ‘Ashok Kumar Agarwal –vs- Union of Indiathrough its Revenue Secretary North Block & Ors.’ (Writ Tax No. 524/2021)decided in favour of assessees/petitioners on 30.09.2021 and order ofRajasthan High Court dated 25[th] November, 2021 in the case of Bpip InfraPrivate Limited-vs.- Income Tax Officer, Ward 4 (1), Jaipur (S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 13297/2021) and the order of Delhi High Court 15[th] December,2021 in the case of Man Mohan Kohli –vs- Assistant Commissioner ofIncome Tax & Anr. In (W.P. (C) 6176 of 2021) and judgement and order ofthis Court dated 17[th] January, 2022 in the case of Manoj Jain Vs. Union ofIndia & Ors. In WPA No. 11950 of 2021 and in the case of Bagaria Properitesand Investment Private Limited & Anr. In WPO 244 of 2021. In view of judgement and order of this Court dated 17[th] January, 2022in the case of Manoj Jain Vs. Union of India & Ors. In WPA No. 11950 of2021 and in the case of Bagaria Properties and Investment Private Limited &Anr. in WPO No. 244 of 2021, all these Writ Petitions herein are disposed ofby allowing the same. Explanations A(a)(ii)/A(b) to the Notifications dated31st March, 2021 and 27th April, 2021 are declared to be ultra vires theRelaxation Act, 2020 and are therefore bad in law and null and void. All theimpugned notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act are quashedwith liberty to the Assessing Officers concerned to initiate fresh re-assessment proceedings in accordance with the relevant provisions of theAct as amended by Finance Act, 2021 and after making compliance of theformalities as required by the law. Urgent certified photo copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied tothe parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Md. Nizamuddin, J.)