Case Law Details
Empee Distilleries Limited Vs CIT (Madras High Court)
Madras High Court has allowed withdrawal request of the petitioner in the Writ of Declaration filed in order to declare the demand order issued against the petitioner quashed in view of the resolution plan.
Facts-
Empee Distilleries Limited (EDL) is a public limited company incorporated in India. At the instance of creditor banks, EDL went into Corporate Insolvency Resolution Proceedings (CIRP) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Chennai made an order approving a resolution plan. The plan was challenged at the NCLAT and the Supreme Court.
Subsequently, the assessment order passed against the assessee was also challenged on the ground of the resolution plan. The assessment order was carried in appeal by EDL by way of a regular statutory appeal u/s. 250 of the Income Tax Act. EDL did not respond to the notices from the Appellate Authority but the Appellate Authority perused the records of EDL, returned as it found no reason to interfere with the order of Assessing Officer dated and dismissed the appeal. Aggrieved assessee filed the present writ petition.
Conclusion-
A perusal of the NCLT order dated 20.01.2020 brings to light that CIRP qua EDL commenced on 01.11.2018.
Much before the commencement of CIRP, the second respondent, Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax made an assessment order dated 06.02.2015. This assessment order was carried in appeal by EDL by way of a regular statutory appeal under Section 250 of IT Act and this appeal was filed on 04.03.2015. EDL did not respond to the notices from the Appellate Authority but the Appellate Authority perused the records of EDL, returned a finding that it finds no reason to interfere with the order of Assessing Officer dated 06.02.2015 and dismissed the appeal vide order dated 26.09.2022 bearing reference DIN & Order No. : ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2022-23/1045941625(1). The matter qua IT Act proceedings stands there. At this juncture, captioned writ petition has been filed in this Court on 30.11.2022.
After some arguments, as the prayer seeks is for a writ of declaration inter alia qua the order of Appellate Authority, leave of this Court was sought for withdrawing the captioned writ petition.
A fervent plea was made to preserve all the rights and contentions of EDL to file a fresh / new writ petition on the same cause of action with appropriate prayer/s. Request acceded to with a rider that if such a course is adopted, the fresh / new writ petition will be tested on its own merits and in accordance with law in the Admission Board and for specificity, it is also made clear that no opinion or view has been expressed in these proceedings.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
Captioned main writ petition is in the Admission Board today.
2. Mr.AR.L.Sundaresan, learned Senior Advocate, instructed by Mr.AR.Karthik Lakshmanan, learned counsel on record for writ petitioner is before this Court.
3. Writ petitioner – ‘Empee Distilleries Limited’ [‘EDL’ for the sake of brevity] is a public limited company incorporated in India. At the instance of creditor banks, EDL went into ‘Corporate Insolvency Resolution Proceedings’ [‘CIRP’] under ‘The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016’ [hereinafter ‘IBC’ for the sake of convenience]. The ‘National Company Law Tribunal’ [‘NCLT’] Chennai made an order dated 20.01.2020 inter alia approving a resolution plan. However, the matter was carried in appeal vide Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency)No.551 of 2020 and the Appellate Authority, New Delhi – ‘National Company Law Appellate Tribunal’ [‘NCLAT’] by order dated 27.08.2020 dismissed the appeal. This order of NCLAT was carried to Hon’ble Supreme Court vide Civil Appeal No.3283 of 2020 and by order dated 26.11.2020, Hon’ble Supreme Court dismissed the appeal confirming the order of NCLAT.
4. A perusal of the NCLT order dated 20.01.2020 brings to light that CIRP qua EDL commenced on 01.11.2018.
5. Be that as it may, much before commencement of CIRP, second respondent made an assessment order dated 06.02.2015 and this assessment order is under Section 143(3) read with Section 147 of ‘The Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961)’ [hereinafter ‘IT Act’ for the sake of brevity]. This assessment order was carried in appeal by EDL by way of a regular statutory appeal under Section 250 of IT Act and this appeal was filed on 04.03.2015. EDL did not respond to the notices from the Appellate Authority but the Appellate Authority perused the records of EDL, returned a finding that it finds no reason to interfere with the order of Assessing Officer dated 06.02.2015 and dismissed the appeal vide order dated 26.09.2022 bearing reference DIN & Order No. : ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2022-23/1045941625(1). The matter qua IT Act proceedings stands there. At this juncture, captioned writ petition has been filed in this Court on 30.11.2022.
6. After some arguments, as the prayer seeks is for a writ of declaration inter alia qua the order of Appellate Authority, leave of this Court was sought for withdrawing the captioned writ petition.
7. AR.Karthik Lakshmanan, learned counsel on record for writ petitioner has made an endorsement in the case file and a scanned reproduction of the same is as follows:
8. A fervent plea was made to preserve all the rights and contentions of EDL to file a fresh / new writ petition on the same cause of action with appropriate prayer/s. Request acceded to with a rider that if such a course is adopted, the fresh / new writ petition will be tested on its own merits and in accordance with law in the Admission Board and for specificity, it is also made clear that no opinion or view has been expressed in these proceedings.
9. Captioned Writ Petition is disposed of as closed / withdrawn. Consequently captioned Writ Miscellaneous Petition is also disposed of as closed / withdrawn. There shall be no order as to costs.
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