Priti Nanda v. Commssioner Of Income Tax - Appeals & Anr

$~37 IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI +W.P.(C) 10329/2022 PRITI NANDA ..... Petitioner Through:Mr.Siddharth Satija, Advocate. versus COMMSSIONER OF INCOME TAX - APPEALS & ANR. ..... RespondentsThrough:Mr.Kunal Sharma, senior standingcounsel for the Revenue withMs.Zehra Khan and Mr.ShrayNargotra, Advocates.counsel for the Revenue withMs.Zehra Khan and Mr.ShrayNargotra, Advocates. % Date of Decision: 11[th]July, 2022 CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANMOHANHON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA J U D G M E N T MANMOHAN, J (Oral): C.M.No.29778/2022 Exemption allowed, subject to all just exceptions. Accordingly, the application stands disposed of. W.P.(C) No.10329/2022 & C.M.No.30036/2022 1.By way of the present petition, the Petitioner seeks a direction to theRespondents to list, hear and decide the first appeal filed by the Petitioner against the Assessment Order and freezing proceeding issued against her bythe concerned Assessing Officer within a period of one month. 2.Learned counsel for the Petitioner states that the Petitioner had filedan appeal against the assessment order dated 21st December, 2019 beforethe Respondent No.1 on 20th January, 2020. He states that before the appealcould be adjudicated, the concerned Assessing Officer served a notice dated20th February, 2020 under Section 226 of the Income Tax Act, 1961[hereinafter referred to as the ‘Act’] to the banks of the Petitioner freezingher bank accounts. He states that pursuant to the freezing order, theconcerned Assessing Officer recovered an amount of approximately Rs.20Lacs. 3.Learned counsel for the Petitioner states that whilst the appeal waspending, the Ministry of Finance introduced the ‘Faceless Appeal Scheme2020’. He states that the Petitioner’s appeal stands transferred to theRespondent No.2 – National Faceless Appeal Centre. He points out that ithas been more than two and half years since the filing of the appeal, but theappeal has not been listed. He submits that the Petitioner had also emailedthe Respondents seeking an early fixation of appeal on 19th May, 2022, butto no avail. 4.Issue notice.Mr.Kunal Sharma, learned standing counsel acceptsnotice on behalf of the Respondents. He states that if the Petitioner files anapplication for early hearing, the same shall be considered expeditiously. 5.Accordingly, the present writ petition along with pending applicationis disposed of with a direction to the Petitioner to file an early hearingapplication before the Appellate Authority i.e. National Faceless AppealCentre.In the event, such an application is filed within two weeks, the Respondent No.2 is directed to decide the same in accordance with lawwithin four weeks thereafter. MANMOHAN, J JULY 11, 2022KA MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J