Narendra Kumar Agarwal Vs ITO (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court has quashed income tax notices and related proceedings against a deceased person, Chiranjilal Agarwala, for the assessment year 2020-21. The ruling came in a writ petition filed by Narendra Kumar Agarwal, who is the legal heir of the deceased.
The case involves a history of similar issues. A previous notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act for the assessment year 2018-19 was also issued in the name of Chiranjilal Agarwala, who had died on April 28, 2021. The Calcutta High Court had already quashed that notice in an order dated June 6, 2022, after acknowledging that the notice was issued to a dead person.
Despite this prior order, the Assessing Officer once again issued a notice under Section 148A(b) for the assessment year 2020-21 in the deceased’s name. The Income Tax Department, represented by Advocate Sharma, argued that the officer was unable to ascertain the names of the legal heirs because no documents were uploaded to the portal by them.
The court, however, found this explanation implausible. The court noted that a legal heir could not operate the portal on behalf of a deceased person. Furthermore, since the court had previously quashed a similar notice at the petitioner’s instance, the Assessing Officer should have been aware of the legal heir and proceeded against him, not the deceased.
