A Single Bench of the Madras High Court stayed the auction of property by Income Tax Department on the sole ground that the appeal was filed beyond the prescribed time.
The petitioner, Subramanian Ramesh, has challenged the assessment orders, passed for the Assessment years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 by filing the statutory appeals before the National Faceless Appeal Centre under Section 246A of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
The petitioner also claims that since the appeals have been filed beyond the prescribed time as fixed under the statute, he has also filed stay petitions with the Tax Recovery Officer seeking stay of the Assessment Order.
The property has been brought for auction by the Tax Recovery and the petitioner claims that he was not aware of the Assessment Order and he came to know of the same only recently and that is the reason as to why he has filed the statutory appeal only late.
The petitioner also claims that his father was looking after his business earlier who is now no more. The petitioner has also given a representation to the Tax Recovery Officer seeking for stay of auction, which is the subject matter of these writ petitions.
The Counsel for the appellant submitted that writ petitions are not maintainable in view of that the statutory appeal filed by the petitioner before the National Faceless Appeal Centre has been filed by him after a period of eight years from the date of the assessment order.
If at all a stay can be sought for in respect of the auction, the petitioner will have to approach the Tax Recovery Officer as per Rule 66 of the Income Tax Rules and therefore, these writ petitions are not maintainable and that the petitioner has not sought for stay of the Assessment Order before the Assessing Officer as prescribed under Section 220(6) of the Income Tax Act.
The Bench of Justice Abdul Quddhose held that “An interim protection will have to be granted in favour of the petitioner by directing the respondents to keep the auction in abeyance for a limited period on condition that the petitioner deposits 30% of the demand amount for each of the Assessment Years viz., Assessment years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011- 12, within a period of one week from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.”
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