The Cuttack Bench of the Orissa Highcourt quashes transfer on the ground that no convincing answer by Department to shift jurisdiction in filing Income Tax Returns.
The Petitioner, Biswajaya Dagara, initially carried out his business activities from Bhubaneswar, Odisha and was filing returns there for the Assessment Years and assessment orders under Section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act passed by the AO, Bhubaneswar. Statutory appeals had also been filed against those assessment orders before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals).
However, surprisingly pursuant to the said order passed by the CIT (A), Bhubaneswar, under Section 251 of the Income Tax Act was issued by the ACIT, Balasore. The Petitioner was surprised that the jurisdiction had been shifted from Bhubaneswar to Balasore and he accordingly filed an objection.
In the letter, it was mentioned that from the beginning he had been filing his returns at Bhubaneswar and since AY 2011-12 had been filing the returns at Kolkata. He was unaware the transfer of jurisdiction to Balasore. He accordingly prayed that the assessment records should be transferred to Kolkata.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice Dr. S. Muralidhar and Justice MS Raman observed that “merely because the Petitioner happens to be a Director of M/s. Nabadurga Minerals, Rairangpur, Mayurbhanj which has been assessed in the Balasore Circle would not automatically transfer the jurisdiction as far as Petitioner is concerned from Kolkata to Balasore. What the counter affidavit, however, does not answer is how the transfer of jurisdiction could take place without complying with the mandatory requirement of Section 124(3) of the Income Tax Act. “
The Court further noted that “No convincing answer given by the Department to shift the jurisdiction to the Balasore Circle, when admittedly, the Petitioner has already shifted to Kolkata and has been filing returns there. Accordingly, the Court quashes the impugned notices issued by the ACIT, Balasore to the Petitioner”
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