Vadivel Coco Tech Private Limited Vs State Tax Officer (Madras High Court)
Madras High Court held that passing of attachment order and debit for amount of arrears inspite of pending appeal is not justified. Accordingly, departmental officer directed to refund the amount.
Facts- It is the case of the petitioner that even though the petitioner had filed a Writ Petition challenging the impugned assessment, he had also filed an appeal before the appellate authority on 03.01.2025. He would further indicate that the reason for approaching this Court by way of Writ Petition was that the respondent had issued notice to the petitioner by demanding to pay the amount determined in the impugned assessment order. The petitioner had also filed an appeal petition on 03.01.2025 and had intimated the same to the respondent with the relevant acknowledgment, however on the very same date, the respondent had issued a notice to the Bank for attaching the Bank Account and the Bank pursuant to the directions issued by the respondent, had also entertained the claim of the respondent and debited the entire amount that had been ascertained under the impugned assessment order. He would submit that this Court had held that the time period for filing an appeal will commence only from the date of order of rectification was passed. In the present case, the order of rectification came to be passed on 29.04.2024 and therefore, the petitioner had time till 28.01.2025 for filing an appeal. Even without waiting for the period of limitation, the respondent had issued the order of attachment and withdrawn the money from petitioner’s Bank account.
