Wp/9368/2006 Of Visakhapatnam Dock Labour Board v. Commissioner Of Income Tax-I

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATUREANDHRA PRADESHAT HYDERABAD THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE J.CHELAMESWARANDTHE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE D.APPA RAO Writ Petition NO.9368 of 2006 Between : Visakhapatnam Dock Labour Board,Rep. by its Deputy Chairman,Karmika Jyothi,Port Area, Visakhapatnam .. Petitioner And Commissioner of Income Tax – I,Visakhapatnam and two others .. Respondents Dated : 19[th] June, 2006 JUDGMENT : (per JC,J) Writ Petition is filed with the prayer as follows : “For the reasons stated in theaccompanying affidavit the petitionerherein pray that this Hon’ble Courtmay be pleased to issue a writ, orderor direction more particularly one inthe nature of writ of mandamusdeclaring the action of the 1[st]respondent in not granting stay ofcollection of Income Tax of thepetitioner for the A.Y. 2002-03 inproceedings No.Addl. CIT/R-1/Stay/2005-06, dt. 24.02.2006 asillegal and sustainable under lawand consequently to restrain therespondents from collecting thetaxes for the A.Y. 2002-03 from the petitioner and pass such other orderor orders as this Hon’ble Courtdeems fit and proper in thecircumstances of the case.” The petitioner – Visakhapatnam Dock Labour Board wasrecognized as a Charitable Trust for the purpose of the Income Tax Actand an exemption in terms of Sections 11 and 12 of the Income TaxAct was granted in favour of the petitioner in the year 1988. However,it appears by an order dated 25.3.2005, the 1[st] respondent declined tocontinue the exemption with effect from the assessment year 2002-03. Aggrieved by the decision of the 1[st] respondent, it appears thepetitioner preferred an appeal before the Tribunal and the same ispending. However, no interim order in favour of the petitioner waspassed in the said appeal. As there was no interim order in the saidappeal, the assessing authority proceeded to make an assessment ofthe income of the petitioner of the above mentioned assessment yearand found that the petitioner is liable to pay tax of an amount ofRs.10,26,76,219/- and also found the petitioner is liable for interestunder Section 234B of an amount of Rs.5,18,51,490/-, in all making anassessment of Income Tax liability of the petitioner for the said year asRs.15,45,27,709/-. Aggrieved by the said order, it appears thepetitioner once again preferred an appeal before the Commissioner(Appeals), Visakhapatnam and the same is said to be pending. Pending the said appeal, the petitioner filed an application before the2[nd] respondent seeking stay of the collection of the tax pursuant to theassessment order referred to earlier. The said application wasrejected by an order dated 24.2.2006. Hence the present writ petition.Heard Sri P.Raghuram, learned counsel for the petitionerand Sri S.R.Ashok, learned Senior Standing Counsel for theDepartment. In the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of theopinion that the matter can be disposed of at the admission stage bydirecting the respondents not to take any further steps pursuant to theassessment order dated 27.12.2005 pertaining to the assessment year2002-03 of the petitioner herein for recovering the amounts found duein the assessment on condition the petitioner deposits an amount ofRS.10 Crores. If any amount is already paid with regard to the liabilityof the above mentioned assessment year, the same shall be givencredit to. The said amount is to be paid by the petitioner within aperiod of six weeks from today. With the direction as above, the writ petition is disposed of. -------------- knk 19.06.2006