VALJIBHAI HARJIBHAI VAGHASIYA V. UNION OF INDIA

SCA NO. 19286 of 2021

AI Insights

The case involves Valjibhai Harjibhai Vaghasiya, the petitioner, challenging the constitutional validity and vires of notifications issued under the Income Tax Act, 1961, specifically Notifications No. 20/2021 and No. 38/2021, which extended the time limits for issuing notices under Sections 148 and 151 of the Act. The petitioner argued that these notifications improperly extended the time limits and applied provisions that were not in effect as of the specified date, 31.03.2021. The court heard the arguments and issued a notice to the respondents, indicating a preliminary finding in favor of the petitioner.

• Counselvise Citation: [2021] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 368927 (HC-GUJARAT)
• Appeal Type: High Court cases
• Pronouncement Date: 20-12-2021
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Assessment Year: 2015-2016
• Laws Referred To: Constitution of India, Income Tax Act, 1961, Finance Act, 2021, Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020
• Result in Favour of: Others
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Assessee Lawyers: TUSHAR HEMANI; VAIBHAVI PARIKH; PARIMAL PARMAR
• Keywords: Constitutional Validity; Income tax assessment; Notification challenge; Extended time limits
• Section: 147; 148; 149; 151; 148A; 226

Judgement Text

"C/SCA/19286/2021 ORDER DATED: 20/12/2021 IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 19286 of 2021 ========================================================== VALJIBHAI HARJIBHAI VAGHASIYA Versus UNION OF INDIA ========================================================== Appearance: LD. SR.ADV. SHRI TUSHAR P. HEMANI WITH MS VAIBHAVI K PARIKH AND MR.PARIMAL SINH B. PARMAR for the Petitioner(s) No. 1 for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2,3 ========================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE SONIA GOKANI and HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE NISHA M. THAKORE Date : 20/12/2021 ORAL ORDER (PER : HONOURABLE MS. JUSTICE SONIA GOKANI) 1 . T h e p e t i t i o n e r h a s p r e f e r r e d t h i s p e t i t i o n b e f o r e t h i s C o u r t u n d e r A r t i c l e 2 2 6 o f t h e C o n s t i t u t i o n o f I n d i a c h a l l e n g i n g t h e c o n s t i t u t i o n a l v a l i d i t y a n d v i r e s o f t h e E x p l a n a t i o n c o n t a i n e d i n N o t i f i c a t i o n N o . 2 0 / 2 0 2 1 d a t e d 3 1 . 0 3 . 2 0 2 1 a s w e l l a s N o t i f i c a t i o n N o . 3 8 / 2 0 2 1 d a t e d 2 7 . 0 4 . 2 0 2 1 , w h i c h e x t e n d , f o r t h e p u r p o s e o f i s s u a n c e o f N o t i c e u n d e r S e c t i o n 1 4 8 o f Page 1 of 5 C/SCA/19286/2021 ORDER DATED: 20/12/2021 t h e I n c o m e T a x A c t , 1 9 6 1 ( ‘ t h e A c t ’ h e r e i n a f t e r ) , t h e t i m e l i m i t s p e c i f i e d i n S e c t i o n 1 4 9 o r s a n c t i o n u n d e r S e c t i o n 1 5 1 o f t h e A c t f r o m 3 1 . 0 3 . 2 0 2 1 t o 3 0 . 0 4 . 2 0 2 1 a n d f r o m 3 0 . 0 4 . 2 0 2 1 t o 3 0 . 0 6 . 2 0 2 1 r e s p e c t i v e l y a n d f u r t h e r p r o v i d e t h a t p r o v i s i o n s o f S e c t i o n s 1 4 8 , 1 4 9 a n d 1 5 1 o f t h e A c t , a s t h e y s t o o d a s o n 3 1 . 0 3 . 2 0 2 1 b e f o r e t h e c o m m e n c e m e n t o f t h e F i n a n c e A c t , 2 0 2 1 s h a l l a p p l y t o t h e p r o c e e d i n g s t a k e n d u r i n g t h i s e x t e n d e d t i m e l i m i t . T h e p e t i t i o n e r a l s o c h a l l e n g e s t h e c o n s e q u e n t i a l n o t i c e d a t e d 2 5 . 0 6 . 2 0 2 1 i s s u e d u n d e r S e c t i o n 1 4 8 o f t h e A c t a s e x i s t e d a n d a p p l i c a b l e a s o n 3 1 . 0 3 . 2 0 2 1 s e e k i n g t o r e o p e n t h e I n c o m e T a x A s s e s s m e n t o f t h e p e t i t i o n e r f o r t h e a s s e s s m e n t y e a r 2 0 1 5 - 2 0 1 6 b y d r a w i n g p o w e r a n d a u t h o r i t y f r o m t h e a f o r e s a i d n o t i f i c a t i o n s . Page 2 of 5 C/SCA/19286/2021 ORDER DATED: 20/12/2021 2 . T h e p e t i t i o n e r h a s f u r t h e r q u e s t i o n e d t h e a p p l i c a b i l i t y o f t h e p r o v i s i o n s o f s e c t i o n s 1 4 8 a n d 1 4 8 A o f t h e I n c o m e T a x A c t , t h e n e w p r o v i s i o n s w h i c h h a v e b e e n i n s e r t e d b y F i n a n c e A c t 2 0 2 1 w i t h e f f e c t f r o m 0 1 . 0 4 . 2 0 2 1 . 3 . A c c o r d i n g t o t h e p e t i t i o n e r , t h e F i n a n c i a l A c t h a s s u b s t i t u t e d t h e p r o v i s i o n o f s e c t i o n 1 4 7 w i t h e f f e c t f r o m 0 1 . 0 4 . 2 0 2 1 a n d t h e t i m e l i m i t h a s b e e n s e t t o i s s u e t h e n o t i c e u n d e r s e c t i o n 1 4 8 w h i c h i s e x t e n d e d b y N o t i f i c a t i o n N o . 2 0 o f 2 0 2 1 a n d 3 8 o f 2 0 2 1 , t h e r e c a n n o t b e t w o p a r a l l e l p r o v i s i o n s a p p l i c a b l e s i m u l t a n e o u s l y . T h e v a l i d i t y o f t h e n o t i c e i s c h a l l e n g e d s o a l s o N o t i f i c a t i o n N o . 2 0 o f 2 1 i s s u e d b y t h e C B D T b y p u r p o r t e d l y e x e r c i s i n g t h e p o w e r s c o n f e r r e d b y s e c t i o n 3 ( 1 ) o f t h e T a x a t i o n Page 3 of 5 C/SCA/19286/2021 ORDER DATED: 20/12/2021 a n d O t h e r L a w s ( R e l a x a t i o n a n d A m e n d m e n t o f C e r t a i n P r o v i s i o n s ) A c t , 2 0 2 0 . 4 . W e h a v e h e a r d t h e l e a r n e d s e n i o r a d v o c a t e , M r . H e m a n i f o r t h e p e t i t i o n e r . I t i s u r g e d f e r v e n t l y t h a t e v e n t h e R e v e n u e A u t h o r i t i e s c o u l d n o t h a v e e x t e n d e d t h e o p e r a t i o n o f r e p e a l e d p r o v i s i o n o f s e c t i o n 1 4 8 b e y o n d 3 1 . 0 3 . 2 0 2 1 u n d e r t h e g u i s e o f a c l a r i f i c a t o r y e x p l a n a t i o n i n t h e n o t i f i c a t i o n s . 5 . I s s u e N O T I C E t o t h e r e s p o n d e n t s , r e t u r n a b l e o n 0 3 . 0 1 . 2 0 2 2 . P l e a d i n g s b e c o m p l e t e d a n d o f f i c e o f l e a r n e d A d d i t i o n a l S o l i c i t o r G e n e r a l s h a l l b e s e r v e d t h r o u g h e - m a i l a s w e l l a s s p e e d p o s t . 6 . A s t h e p e t i t i o n e r h a s m a d e o u t a p r i m a f a c i e c a s e , a d - i n t e r i m o r d e r i n t e r m s o f Page 4 of 5 C/SCA/19286/2021 ORDER DATED: 20/12/2021 p a r a g r a p h 7 ( d ) t i l l t h e r e t u r n a b l e d a t e . 7 . D i r e c t s e r v i c e i s p e r m i t t e d . S e r v i c e b e e f f e c t e d d i r e c t l y b y t h e p e t i t i o n e r t h r o u g h s p e e d p o s t . S o f t c o p y s h a l l b e s e r v e d u p o n t h e o f f i c e s o f t h e l e a r n e d s e n i o r a d v o c a t e , M r . M a n i s h B h a t t a n d l e a r n e d A d d i t i o n a l S o l i c i t o r G e n e r a l o f I n d i a . 8 . T o b e t a g g e d w i t h S p e c i a l C i v i l A p p l i c a t i o n s N o . 1 2 6 2 1 o f 2 0 2 1 . (SONIA GOKANI, J) (NISHA M. THAKORE,J) M.M.MIRZA Page 5 of 5 "