Shailendra Kumar Gupta v. Assistant Commissioner Of Income Tax / Deputycommissioner Of Income Tax, Central Circle, Centralrevenue, Building, Rawatbhata Road, Kotacommissioner Of Income T

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN BENCH AT JAIPUR D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 3372/2021 1. Friends SPS International India (P) Ltd., Cp-8, IndraVihar, Kota, 05 Through Authorised Signatory ShailendraKumar Gupta.Vihar, Kota, 05 Through Authorised Signatory ShailendraKumar Gupta. 2. Dynamic Fine Papaer Mill (P) Ltd., Spl-3R, ChambalIndustrial Area, Kota 03, Through Authorised SignatoryShailendra Kumar Gupta.Industrial Area, Kota 03, Through Authorised SignatoryShailendra Kumar Gupta. 3. Dynamic Fincap (P) Ltd., E-20, Opposite MultimetalsChambal Industrial Area, Kota 03, Through AuthorisedSignatory Shailendra Kumar Gupta.Chambal Industrial Area, Kota 03, Through AuthorisedSignatory Shailendra Kumar Gupta. 4. Dynamic Engineers, E-20, Opposite Multematals ChambalIndustrial Area, Kota 03 Through Authorised SignatoryShailendra Kumar Gupta.Industrial Area, Kota 03 Through Authorised SignatoryShailendra Kumar Gupta. 5. Shailendra Kumar Gupta S/o Shri Madan Mohan Gupta,R/o 205-C, Shivashish Near Dav School, Talwandi, KotaR/o 205-C, Shivashish Near Dav School, Talwandi, Kota ----Petitioners Versus 1. Assistant Commissioner Of Income Tax / DeputyCommissioner Of Income Tax, Central Circle, CentralRevenue, Building, Rawatbhata Road, KotaCommissioner Of Income Tax, Central Circle, CentralRevenue, Building, Rawatbhata Road, Kota 2. Income Tax Settlement Commission, 4Th Floor, Lok NayakBhavan, New Delhi 110003Bhavan, New Delhi 110003 3. Union Of India, Through Secretary, Ministry Of Finance,3Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building Sansad Marg, New Delhi11000013Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building Sansad Marg, New Delhi1100001 ----Respondents Connected With D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 2192/2021 1. Tara Chand Kanoongo S/o Late Shri Shiv PrasadKanoongo, R/o B-82, Kanoongo Bhawan, Janta Colony,Jaipur.Kanoongo, R/o B-82, Kanoongo Bhawan, Janta Colony,Jaipur. 2. Vikram Kanoongo S/o Shri Late Ghanshyam Kanoongo,R/o B-82, Kanoongo Bhawan, Janta Colony, Jaipur.R/o B-82, Kanoongo Bhawan, Janta Colony, Jaipur. 3. Ravi Kant Kanoongo S/o Late Shri Shiv Prasad Kanoongo,R/o B-82, Kanoongo Bhawan, Janta Colony, Jaipur.R/o B-82, Kanoongo Bhawan, Janta Colony, Jaipur. 4. Shashi Kant Kanoongo S/o Late Shri Shiv Prasad Kanoongo, R/o B-82, Kanoongo Bhawan, Janta Colony,Jaipur. ----Petitioners Versus 1. Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax, Central Circle I, NcrBuilding, Statue Circle, Jaipur.Building, Statue Circle, Jaipur. 2. Income Tax Settlement Commission, 4Th Floor, Lok NayakBhavan, New Delhi 110003.Bhavan, New Delhi 110003. 3. Union Of India, Through Secretary, Ministry Of Finance,3Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, New Delhi110001.3Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, New Delhi110001. ----Respondents D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 3543/2021 Alok Kumar Gupta S/o Nathu Lal Gupta, Aged About 44 Years,R/o S-55, Adinath Nagar, Jln Marg, Jaipur ----Petitioner Versus 1. Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax, Central Circle-1,Ncr Building, Statue Circle, C-Scheme, Jaipur.Ncr Building, Statue Circle, C-Scheme, Jaipur. 2. Income Tax Settlement Commission, 4Th Floor, Lok NayakBhavan, New Delhi 110003Bhavan, New Delhi 110003 3. Union Of India, Through Secretary, Ministry Of Finance3Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, NewDelhi, 1100013Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, NewDelhi, 110001 ----Respondents D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 5095/2021 Vishnu Kumar Gupta S/o Sh. Ram Gopal, Aged About 38 Years,Having Its Address At 1347, Barkat Nagar, Tonk Phatak, Jaipur302015 ----Petitioner Versus 1. Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax, Central Cirlce 1,New Central Revenue Building, Statue Circle, Jaipur302001New Central Revenue Building, Statue Circle, Jaipur302001 2. Income Tax Settelment Commission, 4Th Floor, Lok NayakBhavan, New Delhi 110003Bhavan, New Delhi 110003 2. Income Tax Settlement Commission, 4Th Floor, Lok NayakBhavan, New Delhi 110003Bhavan, New Delhi 110003 3. Union Of India, Through Secretary, Ministry Of Finance3Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, NewDelhi, 1100013Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, NewDelhi, 110001 ----Respondents D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 5095/2021 Vishnu Kumar Gupta S/o Sh. Ram Gopal, Aged About 38 Years,Having Its Address At 1347, Barkat Nagar, Tonk Phatak, Jaipur302015 ----Petitioner Versus 1. Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax, Central Cirlce 1,New Central Revenue Building, Statue Circle, Jaipur302001New Central Revenue Building, Statue Circle, Jaipur302001 2. Income Tax Settelment Commission, 4Th Floor, Lok NayakBhavan, New Delhi 110003Bhavan, New Delhi 110003 3. Union Of India, Through Secretary, Ministry Of Finance,3Rd Floor, Jeevan Deep Building, Sansad Marg, NewDelhi, 110001 ----Respondents For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Gunjan Pathak with Mr. Aditya BohraMr. Kanishk SinghalMr. Siddharth Ranka with Mr. Rohan Chatter and Ms. Apeksha BapnaMr. Aditya BohraMr. Kanishk SinghalMr. Siddharth Ranka with Mr. Rohan Chatter and Ms. Apeksha Bapna For Respondent(s) : Mr. Ashish Kumar with Mr. Devesh Yadav and Mr. Chinmay Sharma for Mr. R.D. Rastogi,ASGMr. Siddharth Bapna with Mr. Meyhul MiittalMr. Devesh Yadav and Mr. Chinmay Sharma for Mr. R.D. Rastogi,ASGMr. Siddharth Bapna with Mr. Meyhul Miittal HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AVNEESH JHINGAN HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANEESH SHARMA Order 26/03/2025AVNEESH JHINGAN, J (ORAL): 1.These petitions are being decided by common order as thefacts involved are similar. For convenience, the facts are beingtaken from D.B. Civil Writ Petition No.2192/2021. 2.This petition is filed seeking directions to respondent No.2-Income Tax Settlement Commission to accept the application ofthe petitioners. 3.The brief facts are that in pursuance to a search conducted,petitioners were issued notices dated 20.03.2020 under Section153A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘the Act’) relating toassessment years 2013-14 to 2018-19. By the Finance Act of2021, provision of Section 245B was amended and proviso wasadded to the effect that Income-tax Settlement Commission so constituted u/s 245B of the Act shall cease to operate after01.02.2021. Section 245A was amended and clauses were added.By insertion of Section 245AA, Interim Board for Settlement (forshort ‘Interim Board’) was to be constituted for settling thepending applications. The petitioners filed this writ petitionpleading that the application filed u/s 245C of the Act was notaccepted by the department consequent to Finance Act of 2021.Vide order dated 22.02.2021, respondents were directed to acceptthe application as an interim measure. In pursuance to the interimdirection issued by this Court, the petitioners on 26.02.2021 filedan application u/s 245C of the Act and made requiredpre-deposit. In view of the amendment brought by Finance Act,2021 and prevailing COVID-19 situation, Central Board of DirectTaxes (for short ‘the Board’) issued Circular dated 28.09.2021u/s 119(2)(b) wherein, time for assessees eligible to makeapplication for settlement on 31.01.2021 was extended upto30.09.2021. Circular is reproduced below:- “Subject: Order under section 119(2)(b) of theIncome Tax Act, 1961 for filing applications for–settlement before the Interim Board for Settlement reg. Circular is reproduced below:- “Subject: Order under section 119(2)(b) of theIncome Tax Act, 1961 for filing applications for–settlement before the Interim Board for Settlement reg. The Finance Act, 2021 has amended the provisions ofthe Act to inter alia provide that the Income-tax SettlementCommission (lTSC) shall cease to operate with effect from01.02.2021. Further, it has also been provided that noapplication for settlement can be filed on or after 01.02.2021,which was the date on which the Finance Bill, 2021 was laidbefore the Lok Sabha. In order to dispose off the pendingsettlement applications as on 31.01.2021, the CentralGovernment has constituted Interim Board for Settlement (hereinafter referred to as the “Interim Board”), videnotification No. 91 of 2021 dated 10.08.2021. 2.Meanwhile, in order to avoid genuine hardship to numberof taxpayers who were in the advanced stages of filing theirapplication for settlement before the ITSC as on 01.02.2021and also due to the hardship faced during the covid pandemicby the tax payers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (referredto as the “Board”) had provided relief vide Press Release dated07.09.2021 thereby allowing assessees eligible to fileapplication for settlement on 31.01.2021 to file suchapplications till the extended period of 30.09.2021. 3.In view of the above, the Board in exercise of its powerunder clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 119 of theIncome-tax Act, 1961 (the Act), in order to avoid genuinehardship to assessees authorizes the Commissioner of Income-tax, posted as Secretary to the Settlement Commission prior to01.02.2021, to admit an application for settlement on behalf ofthe Interim Board filed after 31.01.2021, which is the datementioned in sub-section (5) of section 245C of the Act forfiling such application, and before 30.09.2021 and treat suchapplications as valid and process them as “pendingapplications” as defined in clause (eb) of section 245A of theAct. 4.The above relaxation is available to the applicationsfiled:- (i) by the assessees who were eligible to file application forsettlement on 31.01.2021 for the assessment years for whichthe application is sought to be filed (relevant assessmentyears); and(ii) where the relevant assessment proceedings of the assesseeare pending as on the date of filing the application forsettlement. 5. The Hindi version of the order shall follow. xxx xxx xxx” 4.In view of the circular, the issue raised in this petition needsno further adjudication. We may hasten to say that, at this stage,we have not considered the eligibility of the petitioners to make anapplication u/s 245C of the Act. 5.Taking into account that time period for making applicationbefore Interim Board was extended upto 30.09.2021 prior towhich petitioners filed the application. The writ petitions aredisposed of with direction to the Interim Board to consider theapplication made by the petitioners in accordance with law takinginto consideration circular dated 28.09.2021. 6.It is clarified that in view of the circular issued, we need notdilate upon other issues raised in the writ petition. (MANEESH SHARMA),J (AVNEESH JHINGAN),J Simple Kumawat /63,64,66 & 67 Whether Reportable:Yes/No