28.01.2026 Sl. 16 Ct. 551 (Samar)

WPA 19168 of 2024 BTL EPC Limited Vs.

Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax & Ors.

Mr. Ramesh Kumar Patodia, Mr. Megha Agarwal, ….for the petitioner.

Mr. Prithu Dudhoria, Mr. Sujit Mitra, …. for the respondent/revenue authorities.

1. This writ petition has been filed against an order dated April 30, 2024 passed under Section 148A(D) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter the said Act of 1961) and a notice issued on the same date under Section 148 of the said Act of

1961 for the assessment year 2017-18.

2. It is submitted by Mr. Patodia, learned advocate appearing for the petitioner that the order impugned as well as the notice has been issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer and not in a faceless manner in terms of the provisions of Section 151A of the said Act, 1961 and the notification dated on August 22, 2022 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Direct Taxes.

3. Mr. Patodia, submits that the notice and the order impugned suffer from other incurable defect. It is submitted that the same have been issued in the name of a non-existent entity.

the respondent Revenue Authorities seeks time to file affidavit-in-opposition to the writ petition. It is submitted that the order in the notice impugned has been issued in the name of Bengal Tools Limited inasmuch as the Permanent Account Number (PAN) in respect of the said entity is still operational. It is further submitted that as transactions have been undertaken through the said PAN existing in the name of Bengal Tools Limited, therefore notice has rightly been issued in the name of such entity.

5. Mr. Patodia, learned advocate appearing for the petitioner submits, in reply, that all the transactions undertaken by the petitioner have been disclosed in the Income Tax Return filed by the petitioner for the relevant assessment year and the transactions that are showing under the PAN existing in the name of Bengal Tools Limited have also been accounted for in the Income Tax Return filed by the petitioner in respective of the relevant assessment year (2017-18).

respective parties and considered the material on record.

7. Since a jurisdictional issue has been raised as regards issuance of notice to a non-existent entity and issuance of notice by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer instead of the Faceless Assessment Unit, the respondent Revenue Authorities shall not proceed further in terms of the impugned notice and order for a period of six weeks from the date.

8. Affidavit-in-Opposition to the writ petition may be filed within three weeks from date. Affidavit-in-reply thereto may be filed within two weeks thereafter.

9. List this writ petition for further consideration as “Motion” immediately after expiry of the time fixed for exchange of affidavits.

(Om Narayan Rai, J.)