Sri Vignesh Shishir Vs ITO (Karnataka High Court)
20% Pre-Deposit Not Final: Karnataka HC Directs PCIT Review of Conditional Stay Order
The Karnataka High Court held that where an Assessing Officer grants stay of recovery subject to payment of 20% of the disputed demand, such an order is not final or immune from review, and the assessee has a statutory administrative remedy before the jurisdictional Principal CIT/CIT under the CBDT Office Memorandums dated 29.02.2016 and 31.07.2017.
In this case, the assessee challenged the conditional stay order, contending that exceptional financial hardship had arisen due to severe damage to coffee crops caused by excessive rainfall and landslides, which the Assessing Officer failed to consider. The Court noted that the CBDT instructions themselves provide a review mechanism, enabling the assessee to seek relaxation of the standard pre-deposit condition.
Accordingly, the High Court set aside the Assessing Officer’s stay order and directed the assessee to approach the Principal CIT/CIT for review within two weeks. The Court further ordered that no coercive recovery steps shall be taken by the Revenue until the review petition is disposed of. All contentions were expressly kept open
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF KARNATAKA HIGH COURT
The present petition has been filed by the assessee seeking for setting aside of the order dated 30.12.2018 at Annexure-D and has also challenged other proceedings. However, the main grievance of the petitioner appears to be non-grant of stay against the assessment order.
