Case Law Details
Milestone Brandcom Private Limited Vs National Faceless Assessment Centre (Bombay High Court)
1. This is another matter where Court’s precious judicial time is spent due to utter disregard for orders and remarkable ineptitude of the Assessing Officer.
2. Petitioner was served with a draft Assessment Order dated 06/05/2021 with a notice by which Petitioner was called upon to show cause as to why the assessment should not be completed as per the draft Assessment Order. In paragraph 4, it is stated, ‘But the assessee company did not respond or remain silent on this issue’. Petitioner responded to this by its letter dated 12/05/2021 and also sought personal hearing. In the reply, Petitioner explained why it could not respond earlier and also showed cause as to why the order as per draft Assessment Order should not be passed. Notwithstanding this reply, Respondents have gone ahead and passed the impugned order dated 23/09/2021 almost 4.1/2 months later simply cutting and pasting the draft Assessment Order. Paragraph 4 of the Assessment Order also reads as, ‘But the assessee company did not respond or remain silent on this issue’. No personal hearing has been granted and the reply dated 12/05/2021 has also not been considered.
3. In our view, there has been total non-application of mind and we would add gross abuse of process by Respondents. Due to the actions / inaction of Respondents, parties are made to incur substantial legal costs and Court’s judicial time has also been wasted. It is another case in which, in our view, costs have to be imposed on the Assessing Officer hoping that the concerned parties will also take action against the Assessing Officer for passing such orders without application of mind.
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