DILIP KUMAR SHAH vs. Income Tax Officer

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SCA/4856/2018HC GujaratGJHC24020324201810 September 2018Author: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI,HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE B.N. KARIA2 pages

AI SummaryWithdrawn

What did the High Court hold?

The High Court held that in view of the Revenue's withdrawal of the show-cause notice and the order passed thereunder, no further orders were required to be passed in the present petition. The court explicitly stated that the disposal of the petition would not prevent the department from initiating fresh action under Section 179(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, if legally permissible and warranted by facts. The court made it clear that it was expressing no opinion on the merits of any potential fresh action. The petition was disposed of on this basis.

What were the facts?

The petitioner, Dilip Kumar Shah, filed a Special Civil Application before the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad. The petition challenged a show-cause notice dated December 26, 2017, and an order dated February 16, 2018, passed by the Income Tax Officer under Section 179(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Revenue, through its counsel, informed the court that the Income Tax Officer had withdrawn the aforementioned show-cause notice and the consequential order. The Revenue was granted liberty to issue a fresh show-cause notice and pass a fresh order if deemed necessary. The High Court noted these developments.

What were the issues?

The primary issue before the High Court was the validity and continuation of the proceedings initiated by the Income Tax Officer against the petitioner. The Revenue's action of withdrawing the show-cause notice and the order under challenge effectively mooted the petition. The court had to decide whether any further orders were required in the petition given the Revenue's withdrawal. The Revenue argued that by withdrawing the notice and order, the matter could be resolved without further judicial intervention, subject to liberty to initiate fresh proceedings. The petitioner's stance was implicitly that the withdrawal rendered the petition infructuous.

Which sections of the Income-tax Act were involved?

Section 179(1)

AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below

Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances

C/SCA/4856/2018 ORDER IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 4856 of 2018 ========================================================== DILIP KUMAR SHAH Versus Income Tax Officer ========================================================== Appearance: MR R SIVARAMAN, COUNSEL WITH MR DARSHAN R PATEL(8486) for the PETITIONER(s) No. 1 MRS MAUNA M BHATT(174) for the RESPONDENT(s) No. 1 ========================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI and HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE B.N. KARIA Date : 10/09/2018

ORAL ORDER (PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI)

Counsel for the Revenue placed on record a letter dated 10.09.2018 received by him from the respondent-Income Tax Officer, Ahmedabad in which he has conveyed withdrawal of the show-cause notice dated 26.12.2017 and the order dated 16.02.2018 passed pursuant to such show-cause notice under section 179(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 against the petitioner with a liberty to issue fresh show-cause notice and to pass fresh order, if needed.

In view of these developments, no further order is required to be passed in this petition. It is made clear that disposal of this petition would not preclude the department from initiating fresh action under section 179(1) of the Act if otherwise C/SCA/4856/2018 ORDER permissible in law and facts so warrant. We express no opinion with respect to the same. Petition is disposed of. (AKIL KURESHI, J) (B.N. KARIA, J) JYOTI V. JANI

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