Rejection of Nil or lower tax deduction certificate for pendency of penalty proceedings is invalid

HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA Serco BPO (P.) Ltd. v/s. Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax, TDS Circle, CWP No. 10258 of 2012 (O&M) August 14, 2012 ORDER Ajay Kumar Mittal, J. In this petition filed under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner – a Private Limited Company has sought issuance of directions by way of a writ of mandamus to the respondent to issue Tax Deduction Certificate (TDC) under Section 197 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (in short, “the Act”) for the financial year 2012-13. 2. A few facts relevant for the decision...