High Court Of Punjab & Haryana
Hansa Agencies (P) Ltd. vs. CIT & Anr.
Section 241
Asst. Year 1979-80, 1981-82
H.N. Seth, C.J. & M.S. Liberhan, J.
Civil Writ Petn. No. 1183 of 1987
13th April, 1987
Counsel Appeared
N.K. Sood, for the Petitioner : Ashok Bhan with Ajay Mittal, for the Respondents
BY THE COURT:
Income-tax assessments of the petitioner, Hansa Agencies (P) Ltd., Jalandhar, for the asst. yrs. 1979-80 and 1981-82 were completed on July 31, 1982, and May 26, 1984, respectively. Eventually, the assessment for the year 1979-80 was annulled by the Tribunal, vide its order dated May 6, 1985, and that for the asst. yr. 1981-82 was annulled by the CIT (A), vide his order dated May 31, 1985. Dissatisfied, the Revenue questioned the validity of the order of the Tribunal annulling the assessment for the year 1979-80 by means of a reference under s. 256(1) of the IT Act, which proceedings are pending before the High Court. It has also questioned the validity of the order of the CIT (A) annulling the petitioner’s assessment for the asst. yr. 1981-82 by means of an appeal, which is pending before the Tribunal.
2. As a result of the annulment of the assessments, the petitioner, under s. 240 of the IT Act, became entitled to the refund of the income-tax paid by it for the asst. yrs. 1979-80 and 1981-82. The petitioner, vide its application dated August 4, 1985, made a claim before the assessing authority for the refund of the income-tax deposited by it for the two assessment years. According to the petitioner, the assessing authority informed it that the said refund had, with the prior approval of the CIT, been withheld by it under s. 241 of the IT Act. Aggrieved, the petitioner has approached this Court for relief under Art. 226 of the Constitution.
This petition was heard along with Writ Petition No. 4378 of 1986 [Leader Valves (P) Ltd. vs. CIT 1987 63 CTR (P & H) 322:(1987) 167 ITR 542(P & H]. Even though the respondents did not file any return in the case, Shri Ashok Bhan, learned counsel for the respondents, stated before us that, as in the case of Leader Valves (P) Ltd. (supra) (Writ Petition No. 4378 of 1986), in this case also, the assessing authority has withheld the refund merely for the reason that the order of the Tribunal annulling the petitioner’s assessment for the year 1979-80 and that made by the CIT in respect of the petitioner’s assessment for the year 1981-82 are erroneous and the proceedings initiated by the Department questioning the correctness of the two orders are still pending before the High Court and the Tribunal.
For the reasons given by us in our judgment in Writ Petition No. 4378 of 1986 [Leader Valves (P) Ltd. vs. CIT (supra)] rendered today, we are of the opinion that the assessing authority is not justified in withholding the refund which had become due to the petitioner as a result of the annulment of the assessments merely for the reason that the proceedings questioning the validity of the two orders annulling the assessments for the years 1979-80 and 1981-82 are pending before the appropriate authorities. The petition, therefore, succeeds and is allowed and the respondents are directed not to withhold the refund of income-tax which has become due to the petitioner as a result of the annulment of its assessments for the years 1979-80 and 1981-82 on the ground that the proceedings questioning the validity of the two orders annulling the assessments are pending before the High Court and the Tribunal respectively.
[Citation : 169 ITR 322]
