Wp/29892/2023 Of M/S Baba Amarnath Impex v. The Income Tax Officer

13386 I IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANAAT HYDERABAD(Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTIETH DAY OF OCTOBERTWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY THREETWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY THREE PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE P.SAM KOSHYANDTHE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE LAXMI NARAYANA ALISHETTY WRIT PETITION NO: 29892 OF 2023 Between: M/s.Baba Amarnath lmpex, Rep by Sri Girish Agarwal, 21-6-399, Simlawala Nivas,Chandra Chowk, Ghansi Bazar, Hyderabad- 500002 ...PETITIONER AND 1The lncome Tax Officer, Ward 17(1 ), lncome Tax Department, Hyderabad2The Principal Commissioner of lncome Tax-2, Signature Towers, Sy No 6(P)of Kondapur, Sy. 37(P) of Kothaguda, Opposite Botanical Gardens,Serilingampally Mandal, Ranga Reddy District, Hyderabad 500 0842The Principal Commissioner of lncome Tax-2, Signature Towers, Sy No 6(P)of Kondapur, Sy. 37(P) of Kothaguda, Opposite Botanical Gardens,Serilingampally Mandal, Ranga Reddy District, Hyderabad 500 084 3. Assessment Unit, lncome Tax Department, rep by Assessment Officer,National e-Assessment Center New Delhi, Room No 401, 2nd Floor, E-RampJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi-l 10 003-National e-Assessment Center New Delhi, Room No 401, 2nd Floor, E-RampJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi-l 10 003- ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of lndia [praying ]that in thecircumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may bepleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ Order orDirection declaring a the order passed b the 1st Respondent u/s 148A(d) of thelncome Tax Act 1961 dated 241O312023 bearing DIN and Notice No DIN NoticeNo. ITBA,/AST/F1148A12022- 2311051245523(1) for the A.Y.' 2016-17 dated24-03-2023 and Notice under 148 of the Act vide DIN Notice [No.]ITBAJAST/S/148 112022-2311051266923(1) for the A.Y. 2016-17 dated24-03-2023 as arbitrary illegal bad in law [void-ab ]initio violative of the [principles]of natural .iustice apart from being violative of Articles 14,199 and [265 ]of [the] .; Constitution of lndie and Sec 148A of the lncome Tax Act 1961 and [,lonsequently]set aside the same. lA NO: 1 OF 2023 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in thr, circurnstan:es stated inthe affidavit filed in r;upport of the petition, the High Court may be [ple,ased ]pleasedirect the responderts to stay all further proceedings, includin,S aiy recovery,pursuant to the notir:e issued by the 1st Respondent, u/r; 148,rf the lncome TaxAct, 1961, vide DIN [,,lotice ]No. ITBtuAST/S/148 112022-231105 1236923('l)for theA.Y. 2016-17 daled 24-03-2023, for the Assessment Year 2016-17, pendingdisposal of the Main Whit Petition. Counsel for the Peti ioner : SRI HIMANGINI SANGHI counserrortheResrondents:,.r?!."r#il::ii'rt*t#1,, The Court made the tollowing: ORDER \ .I'HE HON'BLE SRI .II-]STICI], P.SAM KOSHY ANT) THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE LAXMT NARAYANA ALISHETTYWRIT PITTITION No.29892 of 2023 ORDER:@er Hon'ble Sri Justice P.SAM KOSHY) When the matter is taken up for hearing today, it has beeninformed by the parties that an identical writ petition i.e.,W.P.no.28860 of 2023 has already been allowed and disposed of videorder dated 13.10.2023 2. In view of the fact that the identical matter has already beenallowed by this Court, we are inclirred to allow the present writ petitionalso, in terms of the order passed in W.P.No.288 60 of 2023 decided on 13.10.2023 on similar tenr.rs. 3. As a sequel, miscellaneous applications pending if any in this writpetition, shall stand closed. No order as to costs. HIGH COURT DATED:20 1012023 ORDERWP.No.298)2 of 2023 'r P,f:[s ][rA ]r€-\.^I{.\\qi))ir [ti ][[]I ][2Ml]ALLOWING THE WRIT PETITIONWITHOUT [(:OSTS]\" ''l.'ri .4.,7a\lu1A I I THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.SAM KOSHY AND THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE LAXMI NARAYANA ALISHETTYW.P. No. 2aA6O of 2o23 ORI)ER: [per ]ao n'bte Sri Ju.stice P.SATI KOSIIp 2. In view of the fact that the identical matter has already beenallowed by this Court, we are inclirred to allow the present writ petitionalso, in terms of the order passed in W.P.No.288 60 of 2023 decided on 13.10.2023 on similar tenr.rs. 3. As a sequel, miscellaneous applications pending if any in this writpetition, shall stand closed. No order as to costs. HIGH COURT DATED:20 1012023 ORDERWP.No.298)2 of 2023 'r P,f:[s ][rA ]r€-\.^I{.\\qi))ir [ti ][[]I ][2Ml]ALLOWING THE WRIT PETITIONWITHOUT [(:OSTS]\" ''l.'ri .4.,7a\lu1A I I THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE P.SAM KOSHY AND THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE LAXMI NARAYANA ALISHETTYW.P. No. 2aA6O of 2o23 ORI)ER: [per ]ao n'bte Sri Ju.stice P.SATI KOSIIp Heard Mr. A.V.A. Siva Kartikeya, learned counsel for thepeLitioner and Ms. B. Sapna Reddy, learned Junior Standing Counselfor Income Tax appearing for the respondents. Perused the entirerecord. 2. The instant petition has been Iiled challenging the AssessmentOrder passed by respondent No.1 under section 147 read with 144Bof the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") dated11.05.2023 for the Assessment Year 2016-17 . 3. One of the contentions that the petitioner has raised in thepresent writ petition is that under the amended provisions of the Actwhich came into effect from 01.04.202 1, the respondents whileproceeding under Section 148 of the Act were required to issue noticeunder Section 148,4. and provide an opportunit5z of hearing to theassessee. As per the amended provision of law, the proceedings to bedrawn are also in a faceless manner. Whereas, it has been contendedby the petitioner that in the instant case, reopening has been initiatedby the Juridictional Assessing Oflicer. In respect of the said objectionthat the petitioner had raised, he relied upon the recent [batch ][of ][writ] petitions decic e<l by this very Bench c,n 1'+.t)9.2023 videW.P.No.259O3 ol 2022 a-nd batch to the limited [e ]xtent 4. Learned for the Department v,ould not dispute of')ounsel having decided the said objection in the afotesaid tratc:h matters.However, learn,:d counsel submits that apart frorn th,: aforesaidobjection, there have been other various objer:tions aiso [which ][the]petitioner has rz.ised in the writ petition. 5. So far a; this contention of the learned [<:o ]rnsrel for theDepartment is concerned, this Bench, while disposing ofW.P.No.25903 <,f 2022 and batch had taken note o,' ttLe same inparagraph No.3" rvhich is reproduced herein un,1er: "37. The preliminary objection raised by trre pelitione' [is]sustained :nd all these writ petitions stands allcwed o:r this veryjurisdictio: ra1 issue. Since the impugned notices and cr,lers aregetting qu{rshed on the point ofjurisdiction, we are not nclint d toproceed firrther and decide the other issues raised by thepelitionervhich stands reserved to be raised and conte:rd:d i:r anappropriat : proceedings." 6. In view 01 the same, we are inclined to z[low the present writpetition also on similar terms. Accordingly, the pres(lnt \lrrit Petitionstands allowed ,rn the objection of the petitioner that the proceedingshave not been < lrawn in accordance with the alnendt:d provision butunder the unanrended provision which is otherwise nrrt sustainable.As has been held by this Bench in the aforesaid ba;-ch nratters, theright of the re: pondents would stand reserved as is envisaged inparagraph No.3" ofthe said batch. No order as :o costs. 3 Consequently, miscellaneous petitions pending, if any, shallstand closed. P.SAM KOSHY, J Dated: 13.10.2023Put LAXMI NARAYANA ALISHETTY, J