A division bench of the Meghalaya High Court consisting Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice W. Diengdoh has held that the assessee shall be granted with a minimum of seven days to respond to the re-assessment notice under section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
The petitioners, Highgrowth Commodities Trade Pvt Ltd, ought to have afforded the assessee seven days’ time to respond thereto was issued to an email id that was used for filing the return for the assessment year 2017-18. Subsequently, the notice was physically delivered at the address of the assessee on March 30, 2022 and, even before the reply could be issued, the notice under Section 148 of the Act was issued by recording that the assessee had not responded to the previous notice. Aggrieved by the order, the petitioner approached the High Court.
The division bench, while allowing the writ petition on the ground of violation of natural justice, observed that “Since the scheme of the relevant provisions requires a previous notice and seven days’ time to be afforded to the assessee to respond thereto and it appears that such procedure may not have been followed in this case, the subsequent notice under Section 148 of the Act and the order pertaining thereto are set aside and the matter is restored to the initial stage. The assessee will have seven days from today to respond to the initial notice dated March 24, 2022. Such response will be considered by the appropriate authority before passing any order or taking any further steps, whether under Section 148 of the Act or otherwise.”
Mr. Abhratosh Mazumdar, Sr.Adv with Mr. Kaushik Goswami, Sr.Adv Mr. Avra Mazumdar, Adv Ms. Shruti Swaika, Adv Ms. Anakshi Neog, and Adv Ms. M. Kakoty, Adv appeared for the petitioners.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.
