Case Law Details
Gaurav Controct Co. Through Hiralal Shivgan Dholu Vs National Faceless Assessment Centre (Gujarat High Court)
The subject matter of challenge is the legality and validity of the assessment order dated 30.07.2021 passed by the Assessing Officer under Section 143(3) read with Section 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for the A.Y. 2018-19.
It appears that the case on hand being one of faceless assessment under Section 144B of the Act, a show cause notice along with the draft assessment order was issued to the writ applicant assessee on 14.06.2021. The assessee was asked to file his reply on or before 26.07.2021.
It is not in dispute that the writ applicant assessee filed his reply to the show cause notice.
It is noticed that Assessing Officer remained under an erroneous impression that the writ applicant – assessee has not filed his reply to the show cause notice. There is a detailed reply filed by the writ applicant – asseessee, which is on record. The aforesaid is suggestive of the fact that the Assessing Officer failed to consider the reply filed by the assessee and proceeded to pass the impugned assessment order.
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It means the A.O. will have additional 2 Months to Complete the Assessment Proceedings even in time barring cases.
In time barring cases if this approach is maintained by A.O. by passing assessment orders without considering replies or personal hearing Requests of the assessee, at the worst the matter will be remanded back to A.O. with additional time of 2 Months as done in this case, that too in cases where assessee prefer to file Writ with High Court which is too expensive affair. What about other asseseees who could not bear cost to file Writ petition with High Court ?
Whether any mistake of assessee in making reply will also be considered with same approach by Hon’ble high court and 2 Months extra time will be given to rectify his mistake of not filing a reply in given time so that assessment order can be reframed ? Please Share your Views. Thanks