Taxation Bar Association Bihar V. The Union Of India and Ors

CWJC/9871/2018

AI Insights

The case involved the Taxation Bar Association Bihar as the petitioner, who challenged the prohibitory order issued by the Government of Bihar that affected certain websites. The petitioner argued that this order disrupted the ability to file e-returns on the Income Tax Department's website. The respondents, including various government officials, countered that the order specifically targeted social networking sites for messaging and did not impact official websites used for e-transactions. The court examined the evidence presented, including statistical data of e-filed returns during the period of the alleged disruption, and found that the official sites remained operational.

• Counselvise Citation: [2020] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 724575 (HC-PATNA)
• Appeal Type: Others
• Pronouncement Date: 20-02-2020
• Assessment Year: misc
• Result in Favour of: Revenue
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Department Lawyers: LALIT KISHORE
• Assessee Lawyers: RAJESH KUMAR
• Keywords: E-filing; Income Tax Returns; Prohibitory order; Social networking sites; Official websites

Judgement Text

"IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.9871 of 2018 ====================================================== Taxation Bar Association Bihar S/o late Baldeo Prasad, R/o Mohalla- Paharpura, P.O. P.S.- Biharsharif, District- Nalanda Pin- 803101. ... ... Petitioner/s Versus 1. The Union Of India 2. Cabinet Secretary, Government of India, New Delhi. 3. Finance Secretary, Govt. of India New Delhi. 4. Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, North Block New Delhi. 5. Chief Principal Commissioner, Income Tax Department, Bihar and Jharkhand, Patna. 6. The Secretary, Department of Home Special Branch, Govt. of Bihar, Patna. ... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Advocate For the Respondent/s : Mr. Lalit Kishore- AG ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE S. KUMAR ORAL ORDER (Per: HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE) 4 20-02-2020 Having heard learned counsel for the parties, the present writ petition stands disposed off, more so, in the light of the submissions made in paras 9 and 10 of the counter affidavit which read as follows: “9. That it is further important to mention that a list of social networking sites have been given in the order of the Home Department, Government of Bihar and from the reading of the same it becomes evident that the list is of social networking sites of messaging. The list does not contain official transmission website. Here it is also important to mention that the website of the Income Tax Department Patna High Court CWJC No.9871 of 2018(4) dt.20-02-2020 2/3 worked through NSDL and it is not a social networking site. Thus, the site of Income Tax Department was not affected by the prohibitory order of the Home Department on e-messaging. 10. That the Answering Respondent further states that the aforesaid fact that the internet working site of Income Tax Department was fully functional between 22.03.2018 till 31.03.2018 becomes evident from the fact that large number of tax payers had e-filed the Income Tax Returns between 22nd March, 2018 in the five districts of Bihar, namely, Nalanda, Nawada, Aurangabad, Samastipur and Bhagalpur. The statistical detail for the ITRs e-filed between 22nd March to 31st March, 2018 in the five districts of Bihar on the basis of information provided Pr. DGIT (Systems) based on the address reported in ITRs, is as under: SI No. FILING DATE NALANDA NAWADA AURANGABAD SAMASTIPUR BHAGALPUR TOTAL 1 22.03.18 348 222 257 399 627 2 23.03.18 432 216 281 470 782 3 24.03.18 416 229 340 569 691 4 25.03.18 350 174 191 524 577 5 26.03.18 520 333 195 605 806 6 27.03.18 742 321 199 804 1065 7 28.03.18 690 477 282 764 1223 8 29.03.18 946 625 746 1290 1783 9 30.03.18 1259 631 1196 1772 2616 10 31.03.18 2135 1279 1998 3571 4496 Total 7838 4507 5685 10768 14663 43461 Besides showing that a large number of tax payers filed their ITRs electronically in the ten days of March, 2018, the above data also shows that on the two days when the social networking site may have been non-functional due to the Government of Bihar order, i.e. 30th, 31st March, a large number of ITRs were in fact e-filed in these five districts on these dates. This further goes to show that official websites were not affected by the ban order, otherwise e-filing could not have been uploaded on the website of the Income Tax Department. Patna High Court CWJC No.9871 of 2018(4) dt.20-02-2020 3/3 This corroborates the submission of the Answering Respondent that the ban was only on social networking sites for the purpose of transmission of message and not for uploading of official documents, like Income Tax Returns in the five districts.” The allegation with regard to the shut down of the official site for the purposes of filing e-returns does not appear to be true. In any event, with the passage of time, we find that the present petition has become infructuous for the purpose of filing e-returns. This petition stands disposed of becoming infructuous. B.Kr./Uma/- (Sanjay Karol, CJ) ( S. Kumar, J) U "