Orchid Mercantiles Pvt. Ltd. & Anr v. The Assistant Director Of Income Tax(Investigation) & Ors

14.03.2023. p.b.Sl. No.23. WPA 3576 of 2023 Orchid Mercantiles Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. Vs. The Assistant Director of Income Tax(investigation) & Ors. Mr. Md. Mokaram Hossain, Mr. Kum Kum Mukherjee, Mr. Sandipan Maity. ……..for the petitioner. Mr. Manmeet Singh Arora, Mr. Soumen Bhattacharya. ……..for the respondent no.2 & 3. Heard learned advocates appearing for the parties. This is the second round of litigation initiated by thepetitioner by filing this writ petition. It appears from recordthat the whole cause of action arises out of the impugnedproceedings initiated under the Prohibition of BenamiProperty Transaction Act, 1988, by the authority inHyderabad and Chennai. It also appears from record thaton earlier, writ petition filed by the petitioner being WPANo.1189 of 2023, was against the same cause of action ofinitiation of proceeding under the aforesaid Act by therespondent authority concerned at Hyderabad andChennai, was dismissed by this Court by order dated 1[st]February, 2023. It appears that the subject matter ofchallenge in the said writ petition was the impugned orderdated 23[rd] December, 2022 which was issued by the investigation authority at Hyderadabad and thesubsequent notice dated 12[th] January, 2023 which wasissued by the investigation authority at Chennai and thesaid writ petition was dismissed by this Court by orderdated 1[st] February, 2023, on the ground of lack ofterritorial jurisdiction and the said order of this Courtdated 1[st] February, 2023 has not been challenged anyfurther by the petitioner before any higher forum. It isstrange that how the very same impugned order and noticeissued by the very same authority can be challenged againin this writ petition which is clearly hit by the principle ofres judicata. Since the whole cause of action is based onthe proceeding initiated under the relevant provision of theProhibition of Benami Property Transaction Act by theinvestigation authority at Hyderabad and Chennai and theappeal against the final adjudication will lie before theappellate authorities at Hyderabad and Chennai, I am notinclined to entertain this writ petition, on the ground oflack of territorial jurisdiction without going into the meritof the case and particularly in view of my earlier orderdated 1[st] February, 2023 passed in WPA No.1189 of 2023,in case of the same petitioner. In view of the discussions made above, this writpetition being WPA 3576 of 2023 is dismissed. (Md. Nizamuddin, J.)