Assessee Denied Minimum time of 7 Days to Respond to Income Tax SCN: Telangana HC Quashes Assessment for Violating CBDT SOP [Read Order]
The exception for curtailing the minimum seven-day period to issue a reply is applicable only in cases where the limitation deadline for assessment was imminent.
![Assessee Denied Minimum time of 7 Days to Respond to Income Tax SCN: Telangana HC Quashes Assessment for Violating CBDT SOP [Read Order]](https://images.taxscan.in/h-upload/2025/07/26/2069304-scn-income-tax-taxscan.webp "Assessee Denied Minimum time of 7 Days to Respond to Income Tax SCN: Telangana HC Quashes Assessment for Violating CBDT SOP [Read Order]")
In a recent ruling, the Telangana High Court quashed an income tax show-cause notice (SCN) and assessment order noting that the Income Tax Department failed to adhere to its own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which mandates that a minimum period of seven days be provided to the assessee to respond to the SCN. The petitioner, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Vari Devasthanam filed a...
In a recent ruling, the Telangana High Court quashed an income tax show-cause notice (SCN) and assessment order noting that the Income Tax Department failed to adhere to its own Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) which mandates that a minimum period of seven days be provided to the assessee to respond to the SCN.
The petitioner, Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Vari Devasthanam filed a writ petition challenging an Assessment Order and SCN, both issued for the assessment year 2023–24 as illegal, void-ab-initio, violative of the principles of natural justice and being violative of Articles 14, 19(1)(g) and 265 of the Constitution of India.
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A.V.A. Siva Kartikeya, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that Clause N.1.3 of the SOP mandated a minimum response time of seven days to an SCN as per the principles of natural justice. However, the impugned SCN issued on 28.02.2025 directed the petitioner to respond by 05.03.2025, providing only four days of which two were non-working days, effectively granting the petitioner only two working days to comply.
Vijhay K. Punna, for the Income Tax Department countered by contending that the petitioner had been issued earlier notices under Section 142(1) on 25.07.2024 and 07.10.2024 and was thus not taken by surprise. It was stated that the petitioner failed to respond to earlier notices and had already replied by filing documents in October and December 2024, and thus had ample time to reply to the February 2025 SCN within the allotted time.
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The Division Bench ofJustice P. Sam Koshy and Justice Narsing Rao Nandikonda rejected the Department’s justification, referring to the Department’s SOP dated 03.08.2022 which mandated that the exception for curtailing the minimum seven-day period to issue reply applied only in cases where the limitation deadline for assessment was imminent.
In the present case, it was noted that even after receiving the petitioner’s last reply on 29.10.2024, the Department waited four months before issuing the impugned SCN. It was also observed that the Department still had ample time post the date of issuance of SCN on 28.02.2025 to conclude assessment proceedings, had the full seven days been granted.
Accordingly, the Telangana High Court set aside the SCN dated 28.02.2025 and the Assessment Order dated 11.03.2025 and remitted the matter back to the Assessing Officer to re-open the portal to permit the petitioner to submit a detailed response within seven days to proceed with the adjudication process.
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