2024 (5) TMI 1398 - HC - Income Tax

Territorial jurisdiction of the court in a Writ Petition - Kerala HC or Madras HC - seeking a direction to lift the Attachment of a bank account by the assessing authority under the Income Tax Act - Single Judge found that the attachment of the bank account of the appellant in Wayanad was consequent to the exercise of power by the assessing authority under the Income Tax Act who was situated in Ooty in Nilgiris District which comes within the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court and could not be maintained before this Court Kerala High Court for lack of territorial jurisdiction HELD THAT - On a consideration of the rival submissions we are of the view that the impugned judgment of the learned Single Judge requires no interference. It is well settled through the decision of the Supreme Court in M/S. Ambica Industries v. Commissioner Of Central Excise 2007 (5) TMI 21 - SUPREME COURT and the later decisions including the decision of this Court in Aparna Balan and Another v. Union of India and Others 2018 (7) TMI 2347 - KERALA HIGH COURT as also V. Viswanathan v. State of Kerala 2014 (10) TMI 1074 - KERALA HIGH COURT and the judgment in K S Jamestin v. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shastri Bhavan New Delhi and Another 2022 (11) TMI 1486 - KERALA HIGH COURT that merely because the appellant has a bank account within the State of Kerala he cannot maintain a Writ Petition challenging the orders passed by an assessing authority who is situated in Tamilnadu more so when the orders in question are issued in connection with the business carried out by the appellant in Tamilnadu. The Writ Appeal therefore fails and is accordingly dismissed.

Summary

The High Court of Kerala dismissed a Writ Appeal seeking to lift the attachment on a bank account, stating lack of territorial jurisdiction as the assessing authority was in Tamilnadu, not Kerala. The court cited previous decisions emphasizing that the location of the bank account does not determine jurisdiction for challenging orders issued in connection with business activities in another state.