Rahul Biala v. Income Tax Officer Ward 61(1) Delhi & Anr

Signature Not Verified $~13 *IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI +W.P.(C) 6038/2022 & C.M.No.18125/2022 RAHUL BIALA..... Petitioner Through:Mr.Ruchesh Sinha with Ms.Divya,Advocates. versus INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD 61(1) DELHI & ANR. ..... Respondents Through:Mr.Zoheb Hossain, senior standingcounsel with Mr.Vipul Agrawal andMr.Parth Semwal, Advocates. Date of Decision: 29[th]April, 2022 % CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANMOHANHON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DINESH KUMAR SHARMA J U D G M E N T MANMOHAN, J (Oral): 1.Present writ petition has been filed challenging the assessment orderdated 31[st]March, 2022 passed under Section 147 read with Section 144B ofthe Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘ the Act’) for the Assessment Year2016-17. 2.Learned counsel for the Petitioner states that the Petitioner was notgiven reasonable time to file reply to the show cause notice which wasissued only on 30[th]March, 2022 at 16:21 p.m. effectively giving thePetitioner only eight hours’ time to file reply to the show cause notice. He Signature Not Verified states that it was not possible to gather all the details of expenses incurredtowards improvement of property, details of exemption claimed underSection 54 of the Act and the authentic supporting documents/evidences,which had been referred to in the draft assessment order. 3.Learned counsel for the Petitioner contends that the time gap betweengiving the show cause notice and passing of the reassessment order was onlyaround twenty two hours which means that the Respondents considered thereassessment proceedings as an empty formality. 4.Today, on instructions, Mr.Zoheb Hossain, learned standing counselfor the Revenue states that “since the matter was bounded by the limitationof time which got barred on 31[st]March, 2022, the proposed draft orderalong with show cause notice for proceedings was issued under Section 147of the Act on 30[th]March, 2022 by providing opportunity for hearing fixed onor before 30[th]March, 2022 by 6.30 p.m.. However, due to paucity of time asstated above, the final assessment order in the case was passed only on 31[st]March, 2022 at13:54:05 IST till the time the assessee has notobjected/responded.” 5.Having heard learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the viewthat time of eight hours to file reply to the show cause notice was neitherreasonable nor effective, as within this short time, the Petitioner could nothave supplied relevant information and documents to substantiate his case.Consequently, this Court is of the view that in the present case, there hasbeen violation of the principle of natural justice. 6.Accordingly, the impugned order is set aside and the Petitioner isdirected to file his response to the show cause notice dated 30th March, Signature Not Verified 2022 on or before 13th May, 2022. The Respondent No.2 is directed to passan assessment order within six weeks thereafter in accordance with law.7.With the aforesaid directions, present writ petition along with pendingapplication stands disposed of. The rights and contentions of all the partiesare left open. MANMOHAN, J DINESH KUMAR SHARMA, J APRIL 29, 2022KA