Case Law Details
Srei Equipment Finance Limited Vs Additional / Joint/ Deputy / Assistant CIT (Calcutta High Court)
Facts- The appellant had filed the writ petition challenging the notice dated 23rd March, 2022 which is an opportunity granted to the assessee to show cause as to why the proposal made in the notice by way of giving effect to the order passed by the PCIT, Kolkata-II u/s. 263 should not be made against the appellant/assessee.
The assessee had submitted their reply dated 26th March, 2022 in which the first contention raised by the assessee was that the proceedings are liable to be stayed since the assessee has been admitted for Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) and presently the assessee is under moratorium by orders of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In this regard, the assessee referred to Section 14 of the Code and also extracted the relevant portion of the order passed by the NCLT. Further, the assessee contended that in terms of Section 238 of the Code, the provisions of the Code shall override the provisions of the Income Tax Act and reference was also made to Section 178 of the Income Tax Act, which also provides that the Section shall override all other laws for the time being in force except the IBC. Therefore, the assessee requested the assessing officer to keep the proceedings in abeyance till the completion of the CIRP. Without prejudice to such submission, the assessee also dealt with the merits of the proposed assessment. In the penultimate paragraph of the explanation, the assessee requested for grant of opportunity of personal hearing in view of Clause (VI) to (IX) of Section 144B(7) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
Though the assessee had requested for an opportunity of personal hearing, it appears that the same was not afforded but “so called hearing” is stated to have been conducted by way of exchanging of messages in the chat box. The assessee vide letter dated 29th March, 2022 pointed out that due to technical issues the personal hearing could not be conducted through video conferencing and requested for an opportunity of effective hearing be afforded to the assessee. The assessing officer did not send any reply to the said communication, however, proceeded to pass the assessment order dated 30th March, 2022. Soon after receiving the said order, the assessee filed a supplementary affidavit before the writ Court bringing on record before the learned writ Court about the assessment order passed during the pendency of the writ petition. The learned Single Bench had dismissed the writ petition by the impugned order dated 13th April, 2022.
In the penultimate portion of the order, the learned writ Court while dismissing the writ petition has imposed cost of Rs.10,000/- on Mr. Somak Basu, learned Advocate.
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