CIT & Anr. Vs MPHASIS Limited (Supreme Court of India)
The Supreme Court of India dismissed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Revenue on the ground of an unexplained delay of 600 days. The Court noted that no satisfactory explanation had been provided to justify condonation of such delay and, accordingly, dismissed the SLP solely on the ground of limitation. All pending applications were also disposed of.
Read HC judgment in this case: Section 201 Proceedings Time-Barred for initiation Beyond Reasonable Time Limit
The SLP arose from a judgment of the Karnataka High Court, which had dismissed the Revenue’s appeal against an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) concerning Assessment Year 2006–07. The High Court had examined whether proceedings under Section 201 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 could be initiated without any prescribed statutory limitation in cases involving non-residents.
The Revenue argued that no time limit was prescribed by Parliament and that the Tribunal erred in applying a “reasonable time limit” based on judicial precedent, particularly the Delhi High Court’s decision in Bharti Airtel Ltd. The High Court, however, noted that the issue had already been settled by the Delhi High Court and had been consistently followed in subsequent cases.
