The main legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of 'cause of action' and the concept of territorial jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution in relation to the notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

JUDGMENT :

J.B.PARDIWALA, J.

1. By this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the writ applicant has prayed for the following reliefs;

“(a) A Writ of certiorari or any other writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned notice under section 148 of the Act dated 31-03-2021 issued by the respondent for the assessment year 2015-16;

(b) A writ of certiorari or any other writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order passed by the respondent herein dated 24-02-2022 rejecting the objections to assumption of jurisdiction under section 148 for the assessment year 2015-16;

(c) Pending the admission and final disposal of this petition, restrain the respondent from proceeding with reassessment for the assessment year 2015-16 pursuant to the impugned notice dt. 31-03-2021 and the order dt. 24-02-2022;

(d) Provide for cost of this petition;

(e) Pass any other order(s) as this Hon’ble Court may deem to be fit and more appropriate in order to grant interim relief to the petitioner”

2. The subject matter of challenge is the legality and validity of the notice issued by the ITO, Ward 1(1), Cuttack (State of Orissa) under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short, “the Act, 1961”) seeking to reopen the assessment for the A. Y. 2015-16 under Section 147 of the Act, 1961.

3. At the outset, Mr. M. R. Bhatt, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Revenue raised a preliminary objection as regards the maintainability of the present writ application on the ground of the territorial jurisdiction of this High Court to entertain the present writ application.

4. Mr. Bhatt first invited the attention of this Court to page : 8 of the paper book. At page : 8 of the paper book, the writ applicant has annexed the impugned notice issued under Section 148 of the Act, 1961 dated 31st March 2021. The perusal of the impugned notice is indicative of the fact that the same was issued to the writ applicant at his address at Orrissa.

5. Mr. Bhatt, thereafter, invited the attention of this Court to page : 9 of the paper book. At page : 9 of the paper book, the return of income filed by the writ applicant for the A. Y. 2015-16 has been annexed. It is evident from the perusal of the return of income that the same was filed at Cuttack (Orrissa). Thereafter, Mr. Bhatt invited the attention of this Court to page : 17 of the paper book. At page : 17 of the paper book, the writ applicant has annexed the assessment order dated 29th December 2017. The assessment order has been passed by the Income Tax Officer, Ward 1(1), Cuttack.

6. As against the aforesaid, Mr. Tej Shah, the learned counsel appearing for the writ applicant invited the attention of this Court to page : 22 of the paper book. At page : 22 of the paper book, the writ applicant has annexed a notice dated 18th December 2021 served upon him under Section 143(2) of the Act, 1961. This notice came to be issued to the writ applicant at Ahmedabad at the address stated therein. Mr. Tej Shah would submit that since the notice under Section 143(2) of the Act, 1961 came to be issued to his client in Ahmedabad and reply to the same was also filed with the department at Ahmedabad, this Court may entertain this writ application as some part of the cause of action could be said to have arose within the territorial jurisdiction of this High Court.

ANALYSIS:

7. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and having gone through the materials on record, the only question that falls for our consideration is whether we should entertain this writ application or relegate the writ applicant to file an appropriate writ application in the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack.

8. For answering the aforesaid question we would like to consider the provision of Article 226 of the Constitution as it stood prior to amendment. Originally, Article 226 of the Constitution read as under:-

"Article 226. Power of High Courts to issue certain writs. -