The Rajasthan High Court stayed the operation of the Faceless Assessment Order which was passed without Show Cause Notice, and Draft Assessment Order.
The petitioner, Aravali Shikshan Avum Anusandhan Sansthan submitted that in terms of Section 144-B added to the statute with effect from April 1, 2021, the National Faceless Assessment Center was required to provide an opportunity of hearing after the draft assessment is prepared.
However, Mr. Siddharth Ranka, the counsel for the petitioner urged that neither the draft assessment provided under Section 144-B was prepared nor Show Cause Notice was given by the National Faceless Assessment Center for providing an opportunity and directly an order has been issued under Section 144-B read with Section 143(3) of the Act imposing an additional demand of Rs.1,09,15,600/- and issued penalty notice under Section 270-A of the Act.
The single-judge bench of Justice Rajeev Prakash Sharma issued a notice of the writ petition to the respondent, National Faceless Assessment Center as well as stay application, returnable within six weeks.
“Taking into consideration the assessment order dated 21.04.2021, the contentions of learned counsel for the petitioner prima facie appears to be correct accordingly. In the meanwhile, the effect and operation of the assessment order dated 21.04.2021 shall remain,” the Single Judge Bench while staying the Faceless Assessment Order observed.
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