Dispute in Fact about Payment of Income Tax Dues Cannot be Decide by Writ Court: Orissa HC directs to approach AO [Read Order]

The Orissa High Court directed to approach the Assessing Officer(A0) since the dispute in fact about payment of income tax dues cannot be decided by the writ court.  

Mr. S. Ray, Senior Counsel appeared along with Mr. K.K. Sahoo, counsel for the petitioner and Mr. Sunil Mishra, counsel for the Revenue.

MMTC Ltd., the petitioner has filed this writ petition seeking to quash the assessment order and demand notice issued by the opposite party no.1 under Annexure-1 and Annexure-1A respectively.    5. In the opinion of this Court, the matter requires consideration.

The petitioner has already deposited the entire amount under the demand raised by the authority under Annexure-1 and Annexure-1A. It was contended that though the petitioner has deposited the amount as demanded by the authority, the petitioner is not liable to pay that much of the amount.

Mr. Sunil Mishra, counsel for the Revenue contended that the appeal lies against the assessment order, but instead of preferring appeal, the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present writ petition, which is not maintainable.

It was held that “if the petitioner has any grievance so far as an error in calculation is concerned, then it has to approach the Assessing Officer for reconsideration of the same, instead of pursuing the writ petition, which involves disputed questions of fact.”

A division bench comprising Dr Justice B R Sarangi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman has held that since there are disputed questions of fact, the Court cannot resolve the dispute involved in the writ petition. Therefore, the Court permitted the petitioner to approach the Assessing Officer ventilating its grievance, which shall be considered by law.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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