NAINI PLYWOOD PVT LTD vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

1 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Original Side Present :- Hon’ble Mr. Justice Md. Nizamuddin W.P.O. No. 475 of 2022 SIEMENS SYNTEX PVT LTD. Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. With W.P.O. No. 538 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 544 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 571 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 572 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 573 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 574 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 575 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 576 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 586 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 592 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 614 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 615 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 616 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 617 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 618 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 619 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 620 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 622 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 623 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 625 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 627 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 629 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 630 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 633 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 634 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 636 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 637 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 638 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 639 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 641 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 643 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 644 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 645 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 646 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 648 of 2022. For the Petitioners :- Mr. Subash Agarwal, Mr. Brijesh Kumar Singh, Mr. Sanwal TibrewaL, Ms. Sutapa Mitra, Mr. Rajeev Kumar Agarwal, Mr. Anmol Jagga, Ms. Dipika Sarkar, Mr. A.K. Upadhyay, Mrs. Shobha Upadhyay, Mr. Kawaljeet Singh, Mr. Pradeep Jewrajka, Ms. Pooja Jewrajka, Ms. Jyoti Rauth, , Mr. Anil Kumar Dugar, Mr. Rajarshi Chatterjee, Advocates For the Respondents :- Mr. S.N. Dutta, Mr. Tilak Mitra, Mr. Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, Ms. Sucharita Biswas, Advocates Dated : 3rd February, 2022

2 MD. NIZAMUDDIN, J. Heard Learned Counsels appearing for the parties. In view of involvement of common question of law and similarity of facts in all these Writ Petitions, with the consent of the parties all these Writ Petitions have been heard together and are being decided by the present common judgement and order. Common facts and issues involved in all these Writ Petitions as appear on perusal of relevant record and upon considering the submissions of the parties are that the petitioners are aggrieved by the issuance of impugned notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on the ground that the same are barred by limitation and the respondent Income Tax Authority concerned, before issuing the impugned notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, have not observed the statutory formalities under Section 148 A of the Income Tax Act as prescribed by the Finance Act, 2021 which are applicable with effect from 1st April, 2021 before issuance of notices under Section 148 of the Act on or after 1st April, 2021. Issues arising in all the present Writ Petitions are purely legal and in all these Writ Petitions the assessees/petitioners have sought relief of quashing of the impugned re-assessment notices issued post 31st March, 2021 by the respondent Income Tax Authority concerned under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, assessees/petitioners have also sought relief by way of a declaration declaring Explanations A(a)(ii)/A(b) to the Notification No. 20 [S.O. 1432 (E) dated 31st March, 2021 and Notification No. 38 [S.O.1703 (E)] dated 27th April, 2021 to the extent that the same extend the applicability of

3 the “provisions of Section 148, Section 149 and Section 151 of the Act, as the case may be, as they stood as on the 31st March, 2021, before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2021” to the period beyond 31st March, 2021 as ultra vires the parent legislation, viz., The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as ‘ Relaxation Act, 2020’). At the outset, all the counsels appearing for the parties jointly submitted that the issues involved in these Writ Petitions are covered by the decision of the Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court dated 30th September, 2021 in the case of ‘Ashok Kumar Agarwal –vs- Union of India through its Revenue Secretary North Block & Ors.’ (Writ Tax No. 524/2021) decided in favour of assessees/petitioners on 30.09.2021 and order of Rajasthan High Court dated 25th November, 2021 in the case of Bpip Infra Private Limited-vs.- Income Tax Officer, Ward 4 (1), Jaipur (S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 13297/2021) and the order of Delhi High Court 15th December, 2021 in the case of Man Mohan Kohli –vs- Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax & Anr. In (W.P. (C) 6176 of 2021) and judgement and order of this Court dated 17th January, 2022 in the case of Manoj Jain Vs. Union of India & Ors. In WPA No. 11950 of 2021 and in the case of Bagaria Properites and Investment Private Limited & Anr. In WPO 244 of 2021. In view of judgement and order of this Court dated 17th January, 2022 in the case of Manoj Jain Vs. Union of India & Ors. In WPA No. 11950 of 2021 and in the case of Bagaria Properties and Investment Private Limited & Anr. in WPO No. 244 of 2021, all these Writ Petitions herein are disposed of

4 by allowing the same. Explanations A(a)(ii)/A(b) to the Notifications dated 31st March, 2021 and 27th April, 2021 are declared to be ultra vires the Relaxation Act, 2020 and are therefore bad in law and null and void. All the impugned notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act are quashed with liberty to the Assessing Officers concerned to initiate fresh re- assessment proceedings in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act as amended by Finance Act, 2021 and after making compliance of the formalities as required by the law. Urgent certified photocopy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Md. Nizamuddin, J.) Sbghosh