Arfath Nazeer Ahmed V. The Income Tax Officer Ward 1, Kolar and The Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Range-2, Bengaluru and The National Faceless Assessment Centre, New Delhi

WP/36488/2025

AI Insights

The case involves Arfath Nazeer Ahmed, the petitioner, challenging various orders and notices issued by the Income Tax Department concerning the assessment year 2018-19. The petitioner sought to quash the assessment order, penalty order, and several notices issued under different sections of the Income Tax Act, 1961, all dated in 2024 and 2022. The primary contention was that these orders and notices were issued without proper jurisdiction or in violation of the procedural requirements set out in the Income Tax Act. The respondents, including the Income Tax Officer and the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, defended the validity of these orders. However, the court found in favor of the petitioner, referencing a similar case decided by a co-ordinate bench.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 821524 (HC-KARNATAKA)
• Appeal Type: Others
• Pronouncement Date: 05-12-2025
• Assessment Year: misc
• Other Referred Cases: Ramachandra Reddy Ravi Kumar Vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax - W.P.No.17352/2022
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Others
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Department Lawyers: E I SANMATHI
• Assessee Lawyers: RAJEEV NULVI
• Keywords: Demand notice; Faceless assessment; Income tax assessment; Penalty order; Show cause notice; Writ of Certiorari
• Section: 147; 148; 270A; 144B; 148A(b); 148A(d); 156; 226; 227

Judgement Text

" - 1 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:51192 WP No. 36488 of 2025 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 05TH DAY OF DECEMBER, 2025 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO. 36488 OF 2025 (T-IT) BETWEEN: 1. ARFATH NAZEER AHMED S/O LATE NAZEER AHMED, AGED ABOUT 32 YEARS, PAN NO. ATRPN 7765 K RESIDING AT: NO. 2, BAGUR SONNEHALLI, CHIKKATHIRUPATHI POST, MALUR TALUK, KOLAR KARNATAKA - 563 160. …PETITIONER (BY SRI. RAJEEV CHANNAPPA NULVI, ADVOCATE) AND: 1. THE INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD 1, KOLAR IT OFFICE, NEW EXTENSION KOLAR, KARNATAKA - 563 160. 2. THE PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, RANGE-2, BENGALURU BMTC BUILDING, 6TH BLOCK NEAR KHB GAMES VILLAGE KORMANGALA, BENGALURU - 560 095. 3. THE ASSESSMENT UNIT INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT, Printed from counselvise.com Digitally signed by SREEDHARAN BANGALORE SUSHMA LAKSHMI Location: High Court of Karnataka - 2 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:51192 WP No. 36488 of 2025 THE NATIONAL FACELESS ASSESSMENT CENTRE, NORTH BLOCK, NEW DELHI DELHI - 110 001. …RESPONDENTS (BY SRI. E I SANMATHI, ADVOCATE) THIS WP IS FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226 AND 227 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA, PRAYING TO QUASH THE IMPUGNED ASSESSMENT ORDER DATED 20/02/2024, UNDER SEC. 147 R.W.S 144B OF THE INCOME TAX ACT, 1961, BEARING DIN AND NOTICE NO: ITBA/AST/S/147/2023-24/1061210278(1) ALONG WITH COMPUTATION SHEET DATED 20/02/2024, BEARING DIN AND NOTICE NO: ITBA/AST/S/183/2023-24/1061210408(1) AND NOTICE OF DEMAND DATED 20/02/2024, UNDER SEC. 156 OF THE INCOME TAX ACT, 1961, BEARING DIN AND NOTICE NO: ITBA/AST/S/156/2023-24/1061210388(1) PASSED BY THE RESPONDENT AUTHORITY NO.3 - THE ASSESSMENT UNIT, INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT, PERTAINING TO ASSESSMENT YEAR 2018-19, VIDE ANNEXURE- A, A-1 AND A-2 RESPECTIVELY AND ETC., THIS PETITION, COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY HEARING, THIS DAY, ORDER WAS MADE THEREIN AS UNDER: CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR Printed from counselvise.com - 3 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:51192 WP No. 36488 of 2025 ORAL ORDER In this petition, the petitioner seeks the following reliefs: \"A. To issue a WRIT of CERTIORARI, quashing the impugned Assessment Order Dated: 20/02/2024, under Sec. 147 r.w.s 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961, bearing DIN & Notice No: ITBA/AST/S/147/2023-24/1061210278(1) along with Computation Sheet Dated: 20/02/2024, bearing DIN & Notice No: ITBA/AST/S/183/2023- 24/1061210408(1) and Notice of Demand Dated: 20/02/2024, under Sec. 156 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, bearing DIN & Notice No: ITBA/AST/S/156/2023-24/1061210388(1); passed by the Respondent Authority No. 3- The Assessment Unit, Income Tax Department, pertaining to Assessment Year 2018-19, vide Annexure: A, A-1 & A-2 respectively; and B. To issue a WRIT of CERTIORARI, quashing the impugned Penalty Order Dated: 06/06/2024, under Sec. 270A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, bearing DIN & Notice No: ITBA/PNL/F/270A/2024-25/1065444912(1) along with Computation Sheet Dated: 06/06/2024, bearing DIN & Notice No: ITBA/PNL/S/270A/2023- 24/1061210564(1) and Notice of Demand Dated: 06/06/2024, under Sec. 156 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, bearing DIN & Notice No: passed by the ITBA/PNL/S/156/2024-25/1065440600(1); Printed from counselvise.com - 4 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:51192 WP No. 36488 of 2025 Respondent Authority No. 3 The Assessment Unit, Income Tax Department, pertaining to Assessment Year 2018-19, vide Annexure: B, B-1 & B-2 respectively; and C. To issue a WRIT of CERTIORARI, quashing the impugned the Notice Dated: 05/04/2022, bearing DIN & Notice No: ITBA/AST/S/148_1/2022-23/1042533030(1), issued under Sec. 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, issued by the Income Tax Officer, Ward -1, Kolar, in respect of the petitioner, pertaining to Assessment Year 2018-19, Vide ANNEXURE F, and D. To issue a WRIT of CERTIORARI, quashing the impugned order dated:31/03/2022, vide DIN No. ITBA/AST/F/148A/2022- 23/1042221404(1), under Sec. 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, passed by the Income Tax Officer, Ward -1, Kolar, in respect of the petitioner, pertaining to Assessment Year 2018-19, Vide ANNEXURE E, and E. To issue a WRIT of CERTIORARI, quashing the impugned Show Cause Notice dated: 23/03/2022, vide DIN No. ITBA/AST/F/148A(SCN)/2021-22/1041 360753(1), under Sec. 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, issued by the Income Tax Officer, Ward 1, Kolar, in respect of the petitioner, pertaining to Assessment Year 2018-19, Vide ANNEXURE D, Printed from counselvise.com - 5 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:51192 WP No. 36488 of 2025 F. To pass any such other Writ, Order or Direction as this Hon'ble court might deem fit to be issued in the fact and circumstances of the case in the interest of justice and equity.\" 2. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the respondents and perused the material on record. 3. In addition to reiterating the various contentions urged in the memorandum of petition and referring to the material on record, learned counsel for the petitioner invited my attention to the order of a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Ramachandra Reddy Ravi Kumar Vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax - W.P.No.17352/2022 and connected matters - dated 28.08.2025, in order to contend that the present petition deserves to be allowed and disposed of in terms of the said order. 4. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents submits that there is no merit in the petition and that the same is liable to be dismissed. 5. As rightly contended by the learned counsel for the petitioner, the present petition is directly and squarely covered by Printed from counselvise.com - 6 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:51192 WP No. 36488 of 2025 the decision of a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Ramachandra Reddy Ravi Kumar Vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax - W.P.No.17352/2022 and connected matters - dated 28.08.2025, the operative portion of which reads as under: \"13. I, therefore, pass the following: O R D E R (i) The impugned show cause notices issued by the jurisdictional Assessing Officer outside the scope of Section 151-A of the Act stand obliterated. All further proceedings initiated thereto, challenged in these cases would stand quashed. (ii) Liberty is reserved to the respondents - revenue to revive all these petitions in the event the Apex Court would hold in favour of the Revenue in the pending before it. (iii) With the aforesaid liberty and to the aforesaid extent, the petitions are allowed. (iv) Contentions of both the parties except the one noted hereinabove, shall remain open to be considered in the event revival of these petitions would become necessary.\" 6. The aforesaid order is applicable to the facts and circumstances of the instant case and consequently, the present petition also deserves to be disposed of in terms of the judgment of Printed from counselvise.com - 7 - HC-KAR NC: 2025:KHC:51192 WP No. 36488 of 2025 Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Ramachandra Reddy's case (supra). 7. In the result, I pass the following: ORDER (i) The petition is allowed and disposed of in terms of the decision of a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Ramachandra Reddy Ravi Kumar Vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax - W.P.No.17352/2022 and connected matters - dated 28.08.2025. (ii) The impugned show cause notices and consequential orders, notices etc., at Annexures-A1, A1, A2, B, B1, B2, D, E, F dated 20.02.2024, 20.02.2024, 20.02.2024, 06.06.2024, 06.06.2024, 06.06.2024, 23.03.2022, 31.03.2022 and 05.04.2022 respectively, are hereby quashed. (iii) Liberty is reserved in favour of the respondents to seek revival of this petition, subsequent to disposal of the matters pending before the Hon’ble Apex Court and all rival contentions between the parties in this regard are kept open and no opinion is expressed on the same. Sd/- (S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR) JUDGE BSS, List No.: 2 Sl No.: 25 Printed from counselvise.com "