MUKUL SHELTER PRIVATE LIMITED 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. 1217 of 2022 GOLDEN STAR HOTEL AND RESORTS PVT LTD. Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. With W.P.O. No. 1218 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1219 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1220 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1221 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1222 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1223 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1224 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1225 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1226 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1227 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1228 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1229 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1230 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1231 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1232 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1233 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1234 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1235 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1236 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1265 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1266 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1271 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1275 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1277 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1279 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1280 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1281 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1282 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1284 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1285 of 2022, W.P.O. No. 1286 of 2022, WPO 1288 of 2022, WPO 1291 of 2022, WPO 1295 of 2022 For the Petitioners :- Ms. Swapna Das, Mr. Siddharth Das, Mr. ProtyushChatterjee, Mr. Brijesh Kumar Singh, Mr. Subash Agarwal, Mr. Avijit Ghoshal, Advocates

For the Respondents :- Mr. Manabendranath Bandyopadhyay, Ms. Sucharita Biswas, Mr. Arunava Ganguly, Mr. Soumen Bhattacharjee, Mr. Sushil Kr. Mishra, Mr. Asok Bhowmik, Advocates Dated : 9th March, 2022

MD. NIZAMUDDIN, J. Heard Learned Counsel 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)]

3 dated 27th April, 2021 to the extent that the same extend the applicability of 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 &

4 Anr. in WPO No. 244 of 2021, all these Writ Petitions herein are disposed of 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 photo copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all requisite formalities. (Md. Nizamuddin, J.) TR/