A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court transferred matter to Higher Bench to decide admissibility of writ petition when jurisdictional Assessing Officer (AO) was located outside National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. The petitioner in the present appeal is RKKR Foundation.
The present petition arises out of the proceedings emanating from the earlier order passed by the High Court in the case of RKKR Foundation vs. National Faceless Assessment Centre Delhi and Ors.
Puneet Rai, Senior Standing Counsel for the Revenue, raised a preliminary legal objection that the Court lacks territorial jurisdiction for the reason that the impugned assessment order dated 30.05.2022 has been passed by the JAO located at Chandigarh, which is outside the jurisdiction of this Court; consequently, the more appropriate forum for invoking the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, is the High Court of Punjab and Haryana.
The objection also stated that the present petition has been filed challenging the assessment order for AY 2018-19, passed by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) located at Chandigarh as the PAN of the Petitioner is under the Jurisdiction of ACIT Exemptions.
Rohit Jain, learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner states that the present writ petition is maintainable before this Court and deserves to be entertained. In the case of the Petitioner assessee, assessment under Section 143(3) read with Section 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for assessment year 2018-19 was originally framed by the NaFAC, located at Delhi, i.e., within the jurisdiction of this Court and aggrieved by the said assessment order, the Petitioner filed writ petition before the High Court of Delhi.
In view of the aforesaid, the Division Bench of this Court in the case of the Petitioner itself, not only held that the writ is maintainable but also agreed to exercise writ jurisdiction in the matter. It is the submission of the Petitioner that considering the fact that the Court in the earlier round of proceedings arising out of the very same assessment proceedings had specifically chosen to exercise its discretion in favour of the Petitioner by entertaining the writ petition, the issue relating to challenge to territorial jurisdiction of the Court stands concluded in favour of the Petitioner.
The Bench consisting of Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora observed that “Keeping in view the complexity of the legal issues involved and since we have doubted the correctness of the view expressed by a coordinate bench of this Court in RKKR Foundation wherein it had decided to exercise its jurisdiction in a similar matter where the JAO was located outside the NCT of Delhi, we are of the considered view that the aforesaid questions of law requires to be settled and decided by way of an authoritative pronouncement by a larger bench of this Court.”
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