Bellamane Narayan Shridhar V. The Assessment Unit Income Tax Department National Faceless Assessment Centre and The Income Tax Officer Ward - Madikeri

WP/27740/2023

AI Insights

The case involves Bellamane Narayan Shridhar, the petitioner, challenging various orders and notices issued by the Income Tax Department for the Assessment Year 2018-19. The petitioner contended that he did not receive crucial notices due to them being sent to an inactive email address, which prevented him from participating in the assessment proceedings. The respondents argued that the petition was not maintainable due to the availability of an alternative remedy by way of an appeal. However, the court found that the principles of natural justice were violated as the petitioner was not given a proper opportunity to contest the proceedings, leading to the decision to quash the impugned notices and orders and remit the matter for fresh consideration.

• Counselvise Citation: [2024] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 819444 (HC-KARNATAKA)
• Appeal Type: Others
• Pronouncement Date: 09-01-2024
• Assessment Year: misc
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Others
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Department Lawyers: SUSHAL TIWARI
• Assessee Lawyers: A SHANKAR
• Keywords: Assessment Order; Faceless assessment; Income Tax; Natural Justice; Writ of Certiorari
• Section: 147; 148; 144; 144B; 271AAC(1); 148A(b); 148A(d); 156; 226; 227

Judgement Text

" - 1 - NC: 2024:KHC:1130 WP No. 27740 of 2023 IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU DATED THIS THE 9TH DAY OF JANUARY, 2024 BEFORE THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO. 27740 OF 2023 (T-IT) BETWEEN: BELLAMANE NARAYAN SHRIDHAR SON OF SRI S R NARAYANA AGED ABOUT 36 YEARS CHANDRASHRI ENTERPRISES NEAR SOMASHWARA TEMPLE KUSHALNAGAR KODAGU – 571 234. …PETITIONER (BY SRI. A. SHANKAR, SENIOR COUNSEL FOR SRI. U.A. MADHU SUDHAN., ADVOCATE) AND: 1. THE ASSESSMENT UNIT INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT NATIONAL FACELESS ASSESSMENT CENTRE MINISTRY OF FINANCE ROOM NO 401, 2ND FLOOR E-RAMP JAWARLAL NEHRU STADIUM DELHI - 110 003. 2. THE INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD - MADIKERI MADIKERI-SRIVALLI BUILDING MADIKERI - 571 201. …RESPONDENTS (BY SRI. SUSHAL TIWARI .,ADVOCATE) THIS W.P IS FILED UNDER ARTICLES 226 AND 227 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA PRAYING TO QUASHING THE ASSESSMENT ORDER DTD 01.03.2023 PASSED U/S 147 RWS 144 RWS 144B OF THE ACT FOR THE AY 2018-19 BY THE R-1 BEARING DIN NO. ITBA/AST/S/147/2022-23/1050266151(1) HEREIN MARKED AS ANNX-A1 AND ETC. THIS PETITION, COMING ON FOR PRELIMINARY HEARING, THIS DAY, THE COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING: Digitally signed by VANDANA S Location: HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA - 2 - NC: 2024:KHC:1130 WP No. 27740 of 2023 ORDER In this petition, petitioner has sought for the following reliefs: “ a) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the assessment order dated 01.03.2023 passed under section 147 r.w.s 144 r.w.s 144B of the Act for the Assessment Year 2018-19 by the Respondent No.1 bearing DIN No.ITBA/AST/S/147/2022-23/1050266151(1) herein marked as Annexure – A1. b) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the computation sheet dated 01.03.2023 issued by the Respondent No.1 for the Assessment Year 2018-19 bearing DIN and Document No. ITBA/AST/S/183/2022- 23/1050266241(1) herein marked as Annexure – A2. c) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the notice of demand issued under section 156 of the Act dated 01.03.2023 by the Respondent No.1 for the Assessment Year 2018-19 bearing DIN & Notice No. ITBA/AST/S/156/2022-23/1050266261(1) herein marked as Annexure – A3. d) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the penalty order dated 04.08.2023 passed under section 271AAC(1) of the Act by the Respondent No.1 for the Assessment Year 2018-19 bearing DIN No. ITBA/PNL/F/271AAC(1)/2023-24/1054879975(1) herein marked as Annexure – A4. e) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the computation sheet dated 04.09.2023 pertaining to penalty levied under section 271AAC(1) of the Act by the Respondent No.1 for the Assessment Year 2018-19 bearing DIN No. 2023201840412838094T herein marked as Annexure – A5. f) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the demand notice dated 04.08.2023 issued under section 156 of the Act pertaining to penalty levied under section 271AAC(1) of the Act by the Respondent No.1 for the Assessment Year 2018-19 bearing DIN & Notice No.ITBA/PNL/S/156/2023-24/1054879639(1) herein marked as Annexure – A6. g) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the notice issued under section 148A(b) - 3 - NC: 2024:KHC:1130 WP No. 27740 of 2023 of the Act dated 14.03.2022 of the Act for the Assessment Year 2018-19 by the Respondent No.1 bearing DIN & Notice No.ITBA/AST/F/148A(SCN)/2021-22/1040719801(1) herein marked as Annexure – B1. h) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the order dated 27.03.2022 passed under section 148A(d) of the Act for the Assessment Year 2018- 19 by the Respondent No.1 bearing DIN & Order No.ITBA/AST/F/148A/2021-22/1041753801(1) herein marked as Annexure – B2. i) Issue a writ of Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the notice dated 27.03.2022 issued under section 148 of the Act for the Assessment Year 2018-19 by the Respondent No.1 bearing DIN & Notice No.ITBA/AST/S/148_1/2021-22/1041762612(1) herein marked as Annexure – B3. j) Issue a writ or Certiorari or direction in the nature of a writ of certiorari quashing the notice issued under section 226(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 dated 14.11.2023 by the Respondent No.2 to the Branch Manager, Union Bank of India, Kushal Nagar Branch bearing DIN & Notice No.ITBA/RCV/S/226(3)_1/2023- 24/1057934533(1) herein marked as Annexure – C. k) And pass such other orders as this Hon’ble Court deems fit and proper in the interest of justice and equity. 2. Heard learned senior 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 petition and referring to the material on record, learned senior counsel invited my attention to the impugned notice issued by the respondents under Section 148A(b) at Annexure – B1 dated 14.03.2022 for the AY 2018-19 in order to point out that the said - 4 - NC: 2024:KHC:1130 WP No. 27740 of 2023 notice was not received by the petitioner since the said notice purported to be delivered to the e-mail id of the petitioner was not received by him since e-mail id was inactive and had been closed/shut down more than 5 years back. 4. It is submitted that since the petitioner was not aware of issuance of the said notice under Section 148A(b), he was not in a position to submit his reply/response along with the documents to the same and also could not participate in the proceedings which culminated in the impugned Assessment Order under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act which is contrary to the said provisions and violation of principles of natural justice and consequently the impugned notice and order and all consequential notices, demands etc., deserve to be quashed and the matter remitted back to the respondent No.1 for reconsideration afresh in accordance with law. 5. Per contra, learned counsel for respondents would support the impugned order and submit that there is no merit in the petition and same is liable to be dismissed. It is also submitted that in view of the availability of equally efficacious and alternative - 5 - NC: 2024:KHC:1130 WP No. 27740 of 2023 remedy by way of an appeal, the present petition is not maintainable and is liable to be dismissed. 6. In so far as the contention is urged by the respondents that the present petition was not maintainable in the light of availability of equally efficacious and alternative remedy by way of appeal is concerned, in the light of the material on record which indicates that by the impugned proceedings were ex-parte as against the petitioner who was not provided sufficient and reasonable opportunity to contest the proceedings by filing his reply documents, which is violative of principles of natural justice, the said contention urged by the respondents cannot be accepted especially when the petitioner did not receive the impugned notice under Section 148A(b) on account of the same having been delivered to an inactive e-mail id which had been shut down more than five years. 7. Further, the returns filed by the petitioner for the Assessment Years up to 2017 – 18 and subsequent to 2018 – 19 have been assessed by the respondents who have collected the requisite taxes and the present case relates to only one isolated AY 2018-19 in relation to which the petitioner specifically contented - 6 - NC: 2024:KHC:1130 WP No. 27740 of 2023 that he was under the bonafide impression that total income would be less than that of basic exemption limited to the sum of Rs.2,50,000/- and was mistakenly advised that there was no requirement to file the return of income in the said AY 2018-19. it is also borne out from the material on record that the inability and omission on the part of the petitioner to file his reply along with the documents to the notice under Section 148A(b) was due to bonafide reasons, unavoidable circumstances and sufficient cause. Under these circumstances, I am of the considered opinion that the impugned notice, order etc., are violative of principle of natural justice and the same deserves to be quashed and the matter remitted back to the respondent No.1 for reconsideration afresh in accordance with law. 8. In the result, i pass the following: ORDER (i) The petitioner is hereby allowed. (ii) The impugned notice at Annexures A1 to A6, B2, B3 and C are hereby quashed. - 7 - NC: 2024:KHC:1130 WP No. 27740 of 2023 (iii) The matter is remitted back to the respondent No.1 for reconsideration afresh from the stage of issuance of notice under Section 148A(b) dated 14.03.2022. (iv) Liberty is reserved in favour of the petitioner to file objections, documents, reply etc., to the said notice at Annexure B1 and the respondent No.1 is directed to provide an opportunity to the petitioner and give him personal hearing and proceed further in accordance with law. Sd/- JUDGE DHA List No.: 1 Sl No.: 36 "