Wp-3555-2021 @ Group Matters.doc v. The Income Tax Officer, Ward 9(1)(1), Mumbai And 2 Ors

Digitallysigned by IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYPURTIPURTIPRASADORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTIONPRASADPARABPARABDate:2022.05.10PURTIPURTIPRASADORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTIONPRASADPARABPARABDate:2022.05.1013:22:46WRIT PETITION NO. 3555 OF 2021+0530+0530 Sai Cylinders Private Limited ….Petitioner V/s.Assistant Commissioner of Income TaxCircle 8(1)(1), Mumbai and Ors. …Respondents ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 22057 OF 2021ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 700 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1953 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1966 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1980 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1981 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2121 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2146 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2148 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2153 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2206 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2215 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2224 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2225 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 8297 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 8298 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 8299 OF 2022ALONGWITH WRIT PETITION (L) NO. 8300 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12558 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12865 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13022 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13026 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13032 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13233 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13794 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13798 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13893 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13906 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13961 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 14019 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2249 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 14092 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 875 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1271 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1272 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1963 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2043 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 11831 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12255 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12862 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12864 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12866 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12868 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12870 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12875 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12876 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12878 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12882 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12888 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12894 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12895 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1241 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 10488 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 10510 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 10521 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13188 OF 2022ALONGWITH WRIT PETITION (L) NO. 13225 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1276 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1347 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 6353 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 6354 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 1989 OF 2022 ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 11827 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12228 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12277 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12501 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION (L) NO. 12761 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2025 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2026 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2034 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2048 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2068 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2070 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2071 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2093 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2104 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2111 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2112 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2120 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2174 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2181 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2183 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2191 OF 2022ALONGWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 2192 OF 2022 ---- ---- Mr. Jitendra Singh, Mr. Harshad Sathe, Ms. Arya Sapre, Mr. P V Shekhawat,Mr. Subhradeep Banerjee, Mr. Deep Shah, Mr. Mandar Vaidya, Mr. RahulSarda, Mr. Rajendra, Mr. Nishit Gandhi, Ms. Akshita Bhandari, Ms. DeepaliKamble, Mr. Tushar Hemani, Mr. Vipul J Shah, Mr. Kumar Kale, Mr. ShashiBekal, Mr. Satish Mody, Ms. Aasifa Khan, Mr. Sameer G. Dalal, Mr. Pankaj RToprani, Ms. Krupa P. Toprani, Mr. Rahul S. Agarwal, Mr. Dharan V. Gandhi,Mr. Devendra Jain, Ms. Radha Halbe, Mr. Rahul Hakani, Mr. Dhrumil C.Shah, Mr. Mrunal Parekh, Mr. Harsh Kapadia, Mr. Sanket Bora, Ms. VidhiPunmiya, Mr. Ravi Sawana, Mr. Naresh Jain, Mr. Mahaveer Jain, Ms. NehaAnchlia, Mr.Madhur Agrawal, Mr. Rahul Gaikwad, Ms. Nikita Abhyankar andMr. Jignesh R Shah with Mr. Harshad Bhadbhade, Kevin Shah & Associates,Mr. Ryan Saldanha, PRH Juris Consults, Mr. Rishabh Dhanuka, Ms. NiyatiMankad, Lex Services, DMD Advocates, SPCM Legal, Mr. Sriram Sridharanand Gravitas Legal for Petitioners-Assessees in respective matters. Mr. Suresh Kumar, Mr. Akhileshwar Sharma, Mr. Ashok Kotangle, Mr. ArvindPinto, Mr. P. A. Narayanan, Ms. Swapna Gokhale and Ms. Mamta Omle forRespondents-Revenue in respective matters. ---- CORAM : K.R. SHRIRAM &N. R. BORKAR, JJ. DATED : 5[th] MAY, 2022 P.C. : 1.The Hon’ble Apex Court in the judgment of Union of India &Ors. vs. Ashish Agarwal1partially set aside the order and judgment passedby the Hon’ble High Court Judicature at Allahabad in Writ Tax No.524 of2021 and other Writ Tax Petitions. The order also covers the judgmentspassed by various other High Courts including this court in TataCommunications Transformation Services Limited V/s. AssistantCommissioner of Income Tax 14(1) & Ors.2 2.The Hon’ble Apex Court has in paragraph no.10 passed the following directions : 1 Civil Appeal No. 3005/2022 dated 4[th] May, 2022. 2. Writ Petition No.1334 of 2021 dated 29[th] March, 2022. 10.In view of the above and for the reasonsstated above, the present Appeals are ALLOWED INPART. The impugned common judgments and orderspassed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad inW.T. No. 524/2021 and other allied tax appeals/petitions, is/are hereby modified and substituted asunder: (i)The impugned section 148 notices issued tothe respective assessees which were issued underunamended section 148 of the IT Act, which were thesubject matter of writ petitions before the variousrespective High Courts shall be deemed to have beenissued under section 148A of the IT Act as substitutedby the Finance Act, 2021 and construed or treated tobe show-cause notices in terms of section 148A(b).The assessing officer shall, within thirty days fromtoday provide to the respective assessees informationand material relied upon by the Revenue, so that theassessees can reply to the show-cause notices withintwo weeks thereafter; (ii) The requirement of conducting any enquiry, ifrequired, with the prior approval of specified authorityunder section 148A(a) is hereby dispensed with as aone-time measure vis-à-vis those notices which havebeen issued under section 148 of the unamended Actfrom 01.04.2021 till date, including those which havebeen quashed by the High Courts. Even otherwise as observed hereinabove holdingany enquiry with the prior approval of specifiedauthority is not mandatory but it is for the concernedAssessing Officers to hold any enquiry, if required; (iii) The assessing officers shall thereafter passorders in terms of section 148A(d) in respect of eachof the concerned assessees; Thereafter after followingthe procedure as required under section 148A mayissue notice under section 148 (as substituted); (iv) All defences which may be available to theassesses including those available under section 149 ofthe IT Act and all rights and contentions which may beavailable to the concerned assessees and Revenueunder the Finance Act, 2021 and in law shall continueto be available. In view of the above all petitions are disposed. 4.Certainly, since all rights and contentions of the parties are kept (iii) The assessing officers shall thereafter passorders in terms of section 148A(d) in respect of eachof the concerned assessees; Thereafter after followingthe procedure as required under section 148A mayissue notice under section 148 (as substituted); (iv) All defences which may be available to theassesses including those available under section 149 ofthe IT Act and all rights and contentions which may beavailable to the concerned assessees and Revenueunder the Finance Act, 2021 and in law shall continueto be available. In view of the above all petitions are disposed. 4.Certainly, since all rights and contentions of the parties are kept open, the assessees may take such steps if they are aggrieved by any order passed by the Assessing Officer. 5.In view of the above, wherever the assessment order has beenpassed those assessment orders will stand quashed and set aside. So alsothe consequential orders/notices. 6.Revenue may restart the process as directed by the Hon’bleApex Court. (N. R. BORKAR, J.) (K.R. SHRIRAM, J.)