Ritesh Agarwal S/o Jugal Kishore Garg Vs Union of India (Rajasthan High Court)
The Rajasthan High Court considered a petition filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings arising from Criminal Case No. 336/2017 (150/2017) pending before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Economic Offences), Jaipur City, for the alleged offence under Section 276C(1)(i) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
The case arose from a search under Section 132(1) of the Income-tax Act conducted on 04.09.2013 at the petitioner’s residential and business premises, during which documents were seized. The petitioner admitted that ₹7.22 crore, representing cash advances, constituted his undisclosed income for Financial Year 2013-14 and disclosed the amount in his return filed under Section 139(1) for Assessment Year 2014-15. The income was assessed under Section 143(3) at ₹12,96,93,610, and the Assessing Officer imposed a penalty of ₹2,16,60,000 under Section 271AAB.
The petitioner’s appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-4, Jaipur was dismissed on 06.03.2018. However, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, by order dated 09.07.2018, set aside the penalty, observing that the preconditions for imposing the penalty were not satisfied and that the Department could not establish any concealment.
Meanwhile, the Department had filed a complaint on 31.03.2017 under Section 276C(1)(i) alleging a wilful attempt to evade tax. The trial court took cognizance of the complaint on 06.04.2017. The petitioner submitted that although the Department had filed an appeal under Section 260A against the ITAT’s order, no interim stay had been granted. Consequently, the penalty remained annulled and there was no operative finding of concealment or wilful tax evasion against the petitioner.
