Delhi HC Quashes TDS Prosecution After Director Status Is Found Incorrect

Akansha Kapoor @ Akanksha Kapoor @ Akanksha Berry Vs ITO (Delhi High Court)

A Director Only on Paper—That Too, on the Department’s Paper: Delhi HC Quashes TDS Prosecution Founded on a Factually Wrong Premise

Summary: A prosecution cannot survive when the foundational fact on which the entire criminal complaint rests is demonstrably incorrect. The Delhi High Court quashed the prosecution of a woman accused of delayed deposit of TDS after the Income-tax Department itself admitted before the Court that she had never been a director of the defaulting company.

The Income-tax Department had instituted a criminal complaint against M/s Granite Gate Properties Pvt. Ltd. and others for offences punishable u/s 276B, read with sections 278B & 278E of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The allegation was that the company had failed to deposit the requisite tax deducted at source within the prescribed time for the financial year 2016-17.

On examining the material accompanying the complaint, the Trial Court concluded that a prima facie case existed and summoned the accused persons. The petitioner approached the Delhi High Court u/s 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, corresponding to section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, seeking exercise of the Court’s inherent jurisdiction to quash the proceedings insofar as they related to her.