Case Law Details
Shilpa Chowdhary Vs Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) (Delhi High Court);
It is it is revealed that Mr. Vikas Chowdhary denied having any bank locker. Shilpa Chowdhary, while admitting the existence of the locker, did not give any information relating to its contents. Therefore, there was indeed material with the concerned authority to form reasons to believe that the locker contained any articles/cash/jewellery/other materials which represented the undisclosed income of the Petitioner. The satisfaction arrived at by the authority meets the conditions stipulated in Clauses (b) / (c) of Section 132(1) of the Act. The factual background noted above demonstrates that the impugned WoA against the Petitioners has been issued not merely on the ground of recovery of locker key, as Mr. Srivastava has sought to project. The formation of belief by the authorities is also based on the statements of the Petitioners. The officers made an attempt to ascertain and verify the facts, post the discovery of the locker key. The satisfaction note also records that Petitioners were asked to furnish details of the contents of the locker, but did not provide satisfactory explanation. In these circumstances, we believe that the Revenue was well within its right to proceed to search the Petitioner’s locker under section 132(1) of the Act.
FULL TEXT OF THE HIGH COURT ORDER /JUDGEMENT
1. The petitioners, wife and husband, by way of separate writ petitions under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution, impugn the validity and legality of the search action initiated by the Respondents. They seek, inter alia, (i) quashing of the impugned Warrant of Authorization [hereinafter referred to as “WoA”]; (ii) declaration that the search and seizure, conducted on them is illegal, void and without authority of law, and the exercise is without jurisdiction; (iii) direction to the Respondents to release the entire material and valuables seized under the search action; and (iv) quashing of the notices issued under Sections 153A/143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [hereinafter referred to as the “Act”]. Considering that in both the petitions the factual narrative, nature of reliefs sought and the grounds of challenge are nearly identical, the same are being decided by way of this common judgment.
Facts in W.P.(C) 5213/2020
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