Rajasthan High Court to Further Hear PIL on Income Tax Portal Glitches Today, Instruction on Deadline Extensions Sought

The Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur on Wednesday granted a same-day hearing to a Public Interest Litigation filed by the Tax Bar Association, Jodhpur challenging persistent technical failures on the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal that have hampered submission of Tax Audit Reports.

The petitioner produced screenshots and documentary evidence to demonstrate recurring errors, timeouts and upload failures on the portal. Senior counsel Vikas Balia and Advocate Prateek Gattani argued that the portal outages have imposed an undue burden on taxpayers and tax professionals and have jeopardised compliance timelines under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act.

The Court heard the matter at length and expressed displeasure over the continuous technical issues flagged by the Bar. The bench directed the respondent department to obtain immediate instructions on the grievances raised and to consider remedies, including whether the statutory due date for filing Tax Audit Reports should be extended in light of the portal disruption.

The petition was registered as D.B. Civil Writ (PIL) Petition No. 18593/2025 and was mentioned for urgent listing by the association.

The petition laid emphasis on the portal problems which have not been isolated incidents but recurring failures affecting multiple users across jurisdictions. Evidence submitted included failed upload attempts, error messages during validation and broken links preventing final submission.

The counsel for the petitioner urged the Court to direct the department to publish a clear action plan, timelines for resolution and a mechanism for compensatory relief or extension for affected taxpayers.

Representing the department, standing counsel acknowledged technical difficulties but sought time to obtain precise instructions from higher authorities. The bench accepted that the department may require internal consultations but underscored the need for prompt, concrete steps given immediate compliance pressure on taxpayers with looming audit deadlines.

The Court recorded that it will examine whether administrative measures alone suffice or whether judicial directions are warranted to secure a fair compliance window. The bench listed the matter for further hearing on September 24, 2025 and directed both parties to place all relevant communication, incident logs and records of complaints before the registry.

The Tax Bar Association has sought an urgent, transparent fix and an administrative directive to prevent recurrence. The next hearing listed for today will determine whether the department will receive a short extension for tax audit filings or be given binding directions to stabilise the portal and notify affected taxpayers.

Tax professionals say any extension must be widely publicised and accompanied by technical remediation. Failure to act promptly could force taxpayers into costly litigation or compliance defaults. The court signalled urgency; taxpayers and practitioners will watch the department's response ahead of the next hearing.

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