Chartered Accountants Association of Surat Files Writ against CBDT in Gujarat HC [Read Writ Petition Copy]

The Chartered Accountants Association of Surat (CAAS) has once again approached the Gujarat High Court, filing a fresh writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution against the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), challenging the constant technical failures of the Income-tax e-filing portal and the repeated delay in release of statutory income-tax forms and utilities.

The Association has sought urgent judicial intervention, through Advocate DR. Avinash Poddar, alleging that the CBDT has failed to remedy long-standing systemic issues despite earlier court directions and its own assurances.

The petition states that this filing is a continuation of the grievances raised earlier in Writ Petition Nos. 13589/2025, 13533/2025, and 13582/2025, which were disposed of on 13 October 2025 only on the limited question of extension of due dates, leaving the substantive concerns including portal glitches, late utilities, audit hardships, and interest implications unadjudicated. Therefore, CAAS argues that a fresh cause of action has arisen.

An important grievance raised in the petition is the extensive delay in notifying and releasing ITR forms and corresponding utilities for AY 2025-26. The Tables on pages 5-8 of the petition showed that several utilities were issued months after the start of the assessment year, with multiple versions released on a trial-and-error basis. CAAS said this left audit professionals with less than “15 effective working days” before the 30 September tax audit deadline.

The petition submitted that schema releases for third-party software were similarly delayed, causing huge and widespread compliance issues for CAs and tax practitioners.

CAAS detailed severe outages between 10-16 September 2025, supported by screenshots and evidence annexed to the petition. It submits that the taxpayers were unable to log in, upload returns, generate challans, or complete e-verifications. The failure peaked on 15 September, the last date for non-audit ITRs and second installment of advance tax.

Multiple assessees, including petitioner Vipasha Mehul Shah, were allegedly prevented from paying advance tax despite arranging funds and attempting to pay before midnight. As shown on pages 16-17, the petition lists grievance acknowledgements submitted for waiver of consequential interest under Section234C.

The writ also points to a rise in “Category-A validations,” which block taxpayers from uploading returns if any error is detected. Page 21 shows an exponential increase in such validations from 32% to 204% across five assessment years, creating barriers that the petition argues are “ultra vires” and not backed by law.

In addition, the petitioners submitted that Articles 14, 19(1)(g), 21, and 265 of the Constitution of India are violated due to actions of the direct taxes board.

“The Petitioner submits that this constitutes a continuing wrong, giving rise to a fresh cause of action, and warrants appropriate judicial intervention to secure compliance and accountability” stated the writ petition.

Prayer Sought before the High Court

In its petition, it has prayed the Court to mandate the release of all ITR forms and corresponding utilities by 1 April every year. The petition also requested for restricting pre-filing validations on the income-tax portal to only basic identity and structural checks, with every uploaded return treated as duly filed, allowing any defects to be addressed later through notices issued under Section 139(9), rather than blocking upload altogether.

Further, the petitioners have requested an automatic waiver of interest, late fees, and penalties in cases where taxpayers are unable to comply due to system failures or delayed utilities. The petitioner association also seeks the creation of an independent technical monitoring committee comprising representatives from ICAI, NIC, industry, and technology experts.

It has also prayed for disciplinary action against officials or vendors responsible for persistent delays or technical lapses. Additionally, it has specifically asked for suspension or waiver of interest and late fees for the period 10-16 September 2025, when the portal outages made return filing and tax payments impossible.

Advocates Appearing

Dr. Avinash Poddar, Advocate and Ms.Anchal Avinash Poddar, Advocate of Ashva Legal Advisors LLP will appear for the petitioners before the Gujarat High Court.

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