1. This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner aggrieved of the order dated 06.04.2023 under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘the Act’) and notice (Annex.5) under Section 148 of the Act issued by the respondents seeking to initiate the reassessment proceedings against the petitioner.
2. It is indicated in the petition that the petitioner is a public limited company having its registered office at Kolkata and having PAN number, whereby the assessing authority of petitioner is Central Circle 2(4), Kolkata.
3. Submissions have been made that a notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act was issued to the petitioner, inter alia, calling upon the petitioner to show cause as to why an amount of Rs. 25,15,936/- be not considered as its income from other sources and the proceedings under Section 148 of the Act be not initiated for Assessment Year 2016-17. It is claimed that the notice was not served on the petitioner and, therefore, the petitioner could not respond to the said notice.
3. On account of non-appearance before the authority pursuant to the notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act, the authority passed order dated 06.04.2023, inter-alia, coming to the conclusion that income to the tune of Rs.61,83,643/- has escaped assessment and, therefore, it was a fit case for issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act and as such the notice was issued to the petitioner.
4. It is submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner that besides the fact that the notice issued under Section 148 of the Act is barred by limitation, as provided under Section 149(1)(a) of the Act, as the amount involved is less than Rs.50,00,000/-, the authority issuing the notice under Section 148A(b) and passing order under Section 148A(d) of the Act, lacked territorial jurisdiction.
5. Submissions have made that the PAN number of the petitioner is reflected on the notice itself and the portal of the department clearly indicates that the petitioner’s registered office was situated at Kolkata and the jurisdiction was with Central Circle 2(4), Kolkata (Annexure 6 of the petition). The respondents, did not care to find out the jurisdiction and has passed order which deserves to be quashed and set aside.
6. Reply to the petition has been filed inter-alia raising objections pertaining to maintainability of the writ petition in light of judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in CIT vs Chhabil Dass Agarwal : (2014) 1 SCC 603. Further submissions have been made that as the petitioner has not filed response to the notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act, its PAN number was not available with the respondents and that the proceedings can very well be transferred to the jurisdictional assessing authority under Section 127 of the Act, by the prescribed authority, under the said provision and, therefore, the objection raised in this regard has no substance. Further submissions have made seeking to indicate that the provision for Section 149(1)(b) of the Act would apply and, therefore, the notice was within limitation.
7. As counsel for the petitioner, for the present has confined his submissions to the aspect of territorial jurisdiction, the aspect of limitation need not be gone into at this stage. In view of the fact that petitioner has raised issue pertaining to the territorial jurisdiction of the respondent No.2, in passing the order/issuing notice under Section 148 of the Act, the availability of alternative remedy does not come in the way of the petitioner.
8. So far as the territorial jurisdiction of the respondent No.2 is concerned, from the material available on record including Annexure-6, which is the screenshot of the portal of the Income Tax Department, it is apparent that the jurisdiction for the petitioner under Section 124 of the Act, lies with the Assessing Officer at Kolkata. The plea raised by the respondents in the reply regarding non-availability of the PAN number on account of non-appearance of the petitioner pursuant to the notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act, apparently has no substance as the PAN number of the petitioner is reflected on the notice itself (Annexure-2) and the authority was required to look into the aspect of the territorial jurisdiction, as the notice was addressed and purportedly sent to Kolkata, West Bengal.
9. In view of above fact situation, wherein admittedly the respondent No.2 lacks jurisdiction to proceed with the notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act, further proceedings by the said authority in passing of the order under Section 148A(d) of the Act and issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act cannot be sustained.
10. Insofar as the transfer of the proceedings are concerned, for the said purpose under provisions of Section 127 of the Act, it is for the respondent No.2 to take steps, if any.
11. Consequently, the writ petition filed by the petitioner is allowed. The order under Section 148A(b) of the Act and notice (Annex.5) under Section 148 of the Act, both dated 06.04.2023, are quashed and set aside. The respondent No. 2 is free to take appropriate proceedings in accordance with law.
