Writ Petition challenging Income Tax Notice: Calcutta HC Imposes Cost of Rs. 10,000 on Advocate for Rude and Disrespectful Behavior in Court [Read Order]

The Calcutta High Court, while considering a writ petition challenging an income tax notice, has imposed a cost of Rs. 10,000 on the Advocate appeared for the assessee-petitioner for his rude behavior in Court and addressing to the chair in highly disrespectful manner.

The petitioner, SREI Equipment Finance Limited, has challenged the show cause notice dated 23rd March, 2022, giving opportunity to the petitioner to file any objection to the draft assessment order before passing final assessment order under Section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in order to give effect to the order passed by the Commissioner under Section 263 of the Income Tax Act dated 4th March, 2021. However, the petitioner did not avail the said opportunity.

Justice Md. Nizamuddin observed that “this is not that categories of cases where the proceeding has been initiated by an officer having inherent lack of jurisdiction since in this case assessing officer being subordinate to the Commissioner is bound to give effect to the order by his higher authority which is the Commissioner of Income Tax who had passed order under Section 263 of the Act which is not even subject matter of challenge before this Court.”

Diving deeply into the facts of the case, the Court dismissed the writ petition and held that “the same is accordingly dismissed without going into the merit of the assessment only on the ground of availability of the alternative remedy. This writ petition is dismissed with costs of Rs. 10,000/- upon Mr. Somak Basu, learned Advocate because of his rude behavior in Court and addressing to the chair in highly disrespectful manner.”

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

Support our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan AdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.