Dineshkumar Chhaganbhai Nandani Vs ITO (Gujarat High Court)
The Hon’ble Gujarat High Court in Dineshkumar Chhaganbhai Nandani v. Income Tax Officer [R/Special Civil Application No. 7864 of 2022 dated June 19, 2023] set aside the assessment order and held a proper opportunity must be given to the Assessee whenever a Show cause notice or an assessment order is issued and further commented that it is very difficult to file a reply to the Show Cause Notice within 12 hours.
Facts
Dineshkumar Chhaganbhai Nandani (“the Petitioner”) filed his return of income for the Assessment Year 2014-15 (“the Impugned Year”) on July 24, 2014, declaring total income of INR 3,39,730.
A Show Cause Notice dated March 29, 2022 (“the Impugned SCN”) was issued to the Petitioner by the Income Tax Officer (“the Respondent”) at 11:41 am, which stated the Petitioner to reply by 11:59 pm on the same date as to why the proposed variation should not be made. The Petitioner filed a reply to the Impugned SCN within the stipulated time and thereafter an Assessment Order dated March 31, 2022 (“the Impugned Order”) was passed by the Respondent. Aggrieved by the Impugned Order the Petitioner filed the present petition.
The Petitioner submitted that the Respondent has failed to grant a proper opportunity of being heard by giving only 12 hours to file a reply to the Impugned SCN. Furthermore, the Petitioner submitted that he had asked for certain documents for cross-verification and as well as requested a cross-examination of witnesses, which the Respondent did not provide and thereby contended that the Respondent had clearly violated the principles of natural justice.
Issue
Whether granting only 12 hours for submitting a reply to the Impugned SCN violative of principles of natural justice?
Held
The Hon’ble Gujarat High Court in R/Special Civil Application No. 7864 of 2022 held as under:
