Poonawalla Fincorp Limited (Formerly Known As Magma Fincorp Ltd v. Assistant Commissioner Of Income Tax, 1(2)(2), National Faceless Assessment Centre Delhi & Ors

OD-1 W.P.O. No.1072 of 2021IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTAConstitutional Writ JurisdictionORIGINAL SIDE POONAWALLA FINCORP LIMITED (FORMERLY KNOWN AS MAGMA FINCORP LTD.)VersusASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, 1(2)(2),NATIONAL FACELESS ASSESSMENT CENTRE DELHI & ORS. BEFORE: The Hon'ble JUSTICE MD. NIZAMUDDIN Date : 22[nd] November, 2021. APPEARANCE:J.P.Khaitan, Sr.Adv.Mr.Akhilesh Gupta, Adv.Mr. Pranav Sharma, Adv.…for petitionerMr.Smarajit Roy Chowdhury, Adv.Mr.Soumen Bhattacharjee, Adv.…for respondents The Court: Heard learned advocates appearing for the parties. This writ petition was moved on 8[th] October, 2021 challenging theimpugned assessment order dated 30[th] September, 2021 on the ground thatbefore passing the impugned assessment order no opportunity of personalhearing was afforded to the petitioner in spite of request and further on theground that no reply to the show cause notice which was issued before passingthe assessment order, was given by the petitioner as recorded by the AssessingOfficer in its impugned assessment order while it is on record that reply to theshow cause notice in question was given by the petitioner. Mr. Chowdhury, learned advocate appearing for the respondents-Income Tax Authority could not defend and contradict the aforesaid allegations ofthe petitioner. In such circumstances, it is presumed that the respondents-IncomeTax Authority has conceded. In my view calling for any affidavit will be a futileexercise in such circumstances as because the allegations of the petitioner issubstantiated by record which could not be improved by the department. Considering these facts the writ petition being WPO No.1072 of 2021 isdisposed of by setting aside the impugned assessment order dated 30[th]September, 2021 with a direction upon the respondent Assessing Officerconcerned to pass a fresh assessment order in accordance with law and byaffording a reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. It is recorded that this Court has set aside the aforesaid impugnedassessment order only on the aforesaid two grounds and it has not gone into themerit of assessment.In the first and second pages of my order dated 8[th] October, 2021, dueto inadvertence the date of the assessment order has been recorded as ‘30[th]September, 2019’ instead of ‘30[th] September, 2021’. Let that be correctedaccordingly. (MD. NIZAMUDDIN, J.) sb/