The Hoshiarpur Central Cooperative Bank Ltd,_.. Petition v. Principal Chief Commissioner Of Income Tax And Others

CWP No.17833 of 2017 (O&M) -|- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA|AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.17833 of 2017 (O&M)Date of Decision:- 11.08.2017 The Hoshiarpur Central Cooperative Bank Ltd,_.. Petition Versus Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax and others ... Respondents CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDALHON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GURVINDER SINGH GILL Present:-Mr. Ashwani Prashar, Advocate, for the petitioner.,,,,, Rajesh Bindal, J The grievance of the petitioner is that after demonetisation, dueto shortage of currency request was made on 10.01.2017 to Punjab StateCooperative Bank Ltd. to provide new currency notes of the denominationot42000 and|500. The petitioner-bank was issued43 crores in cash byPunjab State Cooperative Bank Ltd. The amount was handed over to theauthorized person. Punjab State Cooperative Bank Ltd. had even issued acertificate regarding disbursal of cash to different Cooperative Banks in theState out of total=50 crores received from Reserve Bank of India. Whilethe cash was being carried from Chandigarh to Hoshiarpur, it wasintercepted in between and seized by the Income Tax Department. Theamount is duly accounted in the account books. Despite requests made bythe petitioner, the amount has not been released. Learned counsel for thepetitioner has referred to a request dated 19.01.2017 (Annexure P-8) to theAdditional Director of Income Tax (Inv.), Jalandhar for release of the CWP No.17833 of 2017 (O&M) amount on which no action has been taken. After hearing learned counsel for the petitioner, however,without recording any finding on merits of the controversy, in our opinion,the present petition can be disposed of with a direction to the AdditionalDirector of Income Tax(Inv.), Jalandhar to take final decision on the requestmade by the petitioner for release of the impounded currency within aperiod of one month from the date of receipt of copy of the order.Ordered accordingly. ( Rajesh Bindal )Judge August 11, 2017mohan ( Gurvinder Singh Gill)Judge Whether speaking /reasonedWhether Reportable Yes/NoYes/No