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TMI Blog2015 (9) TMI 807X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for the following reliefs:- "1. That Hon'ble Court may declare section 234E of the Income Tax Act, 1961 as unconstitutional by issuing necessary directions to the respondents; 2. That alternatively it is prayed that benefit of Circular No.07/2014 dated March 04, 2014 F.No.275/27/2013-IT(B) issued by the Respondent No.2, wherein, Ex-post facto extended the due date for filing TDS/TCS statement for financial year 2012-13 and 2013-14 for Government deductors, may be extended to other deductors also; 3. That necessary direction may kindly be issued to the respondent No.3 to quash the demand raised in respect of all the petitioners as stated in Annexure 1 to Annexure 7. 4. That any other relief deemed beneficial be also awarded;" 3. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... there is an obligation on the Income Tax Department to process the income tax returns within the specified period from the date of filing. The Department cannot accurately process the return on whose behalf tax has been deducted (the deductee) until information of such deductions is furnished by the deductor within the prescribed time. The timely processing of returns is the bedrock of an efficient tax administration system. If the income tax returns, especially having refund claims, are not processed in a timely manner, then (i) a delay occurs in the granting of credit of TDS to the person on whose behalf tax is deducted (the deductee) and consequently leads to delay in issuing refunds to the deductee, or raising of infructuous demands aga ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wed to file his TDS statement beyond the prescribed time provided he pays the fee as prescribed under section 234E of the Act. In other words, the late filing of the TDS return/statements is regularised upon payment of the fee as set out in section 234E. This is nothing but a privilege and a special service to the deductor allowing him to file the TDS return/statements beyond the time prescribed by the Act and/or the Rules. We therefore cannot agree with the argument of the Petitioners that the fee that is sought to be collected under section 234E of the Act is really nothing but a collection in the guise of a tax." Reliance was also placed on the judgment of the Calcutta High Court in Howrah Tax Payers' Association V/s The Government ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 0A(1), there was no provision for computation of the fee for late filing of the TDS returns under section 200A and thus, in the absence of any machinery provisions, the levy of fee under section 200, which imposes a duty on the person deducting tax, was not justified. 6. We have considered the arguments and do not find any good ground to take a view different from the one taken by the Bombay High Court in Rashmikant Kundalia and ors. V/s Union of India & ors. (supra). The unamended Section 200 referred to the levy on the late filing of returns as penalty. It was thereafter termed as fee, which is a compensatory in nature. In Jindal Stainless Ltd. V/s State of Haryana ((2006) 152 Taxman 561 (SC), the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... upon by the statutory provision is too onerous or that the statute does not leave sufficient time or does not allow reasonable cause to be considered for violation of the provision. In G.P. Singh's Principles of Statutory Interpretation, 9th Edn., 2004, p. 497, referring to a large number of judgments of the Federal Court and the Supreme Court, it was observed that for upholding the constitutionality of a statute, the Court can construe or interpret its general words narrowly or widely. The Court must make every effort to uphold the constitutional validity of a statute, even if that requires giving the statutory provision a strained meaning, or narrower or wider meaning, than what appears on the face of it. It is only when all efforts ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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