Gauraklara Shivakumar Namratha Vs Assessment Unit (Karnataka High Court)
₹40-Lakh Reassessment Misses the Limitation Bus: Karnataka HC Quashes Notices u/s 148A(b), 148, Ex Parte Assessment & Penalty
Summary: In Gauraklara Shivakumar Namratha v. Assessment Unit, Income Tax Department & Another, the Karnataka High Court considered a writ petition relating to AY 2015-16. The petitioner challenged the reassessment proceedings initiated by the Income Tax Department through a show-cause notice dated 19.03.2022 u/s 148A(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
This was followed by an order dated 29.03.2022 u/s 148A(d) & a consequential reassessment notice of the same date u/s 148. The Department alleged that income amounting to ₹40 lakh had escaped assessment. Pursuant to these proceedings, an ex parte assessment order was passed u/s 147 read with sections 144 & 144B. A consequential penalty order dated 11.09.2023 u/s 271(1)(c) was also passed against the petitioner.
The petitioner invoked the writ jurisdiction of the High Court u/a 226 & 227 of the Constitution, seeking quashing of the notice u/s 148A(b), the order u/s 148A(d), the notice u/s 148, the ex parte assessment order & the penalty order. The controversy primarily concerned whether reassessment proceedings for AY 2015-16 could legally be initiated after 31.03.2021, particularly where the alleged escaped income was only ₹40 lakh.
