9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (5) TMI 762X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ow cause was issued on 23rd March, 2024 under Clause B of Section 148A of the said Act, calling upon the petitioners to file their response on/or before 29th March, 2024. It is not in dispute that the petitioners had only two working days to give their response. As such, the petitioners on 27th March, 2024 had sought for fifteen days time. As the petitioners were denied reasonable opportunity to appropriately respond to the show cause, thus order passed u/s 148 (A) (d) of the said Act cannot be sustained and the same is accordingly set aside - Decided in favour of assessee. X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ds vitiated and should be set aside. 5. Mr. Dutta, learned advocate enters appearance on behalf of the respondents. He does not dispute the fact that the petitioners only got two working days time to respond to the show cause. He, however, submits that the petitioners had submitted their response to the said show cause on 27th March, 2024 and thereby sought for fifteen days time. The order under Section 148 (A) (d) of the said Act was passed after fifteen days and the submit response tab on the portal was kept open for a period of fifteen days, i.e. till 17th April, 2024 and only thereafter the order dated 25th April, 2024, which is impugned has been passed. As such, the petitioners cannot complain of violation of principles of natural jus ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . The learned standing counsel would submit that the assessee has submitted his reply which has also been referred to by the Assessing Officer in his order under section 148A (b) of the Act. As rightly pointed by the learned senior Advocate for the appellant that nowhere in the reply given by the assessee, there is any elaborate discussion about sections 148, 148A of the Act and probably there occurred a factual mistake at the hands of the Assessing Officer. The assessee had enclosed certain documents along with the reply and had made submissions on merit and on our reading, we find that no elaborate discussion about sections 148 or 148A of the Act. Be that as it may, the opportunity of hearing to be provided should be reasonable and not il ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ands vitiated. Accordingly, the notice dated 25th April, 2024 issued under Section 148 of the said Act also stands set aside. 10. The petitioners shall be at liberty to submit its reply with the respondents within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of this order and upload the reply online, for the said purpose the respondents are directed to ensure that the submit response tab on the portal is kept open for the petitioners to submit their response in terms of the aforesaid order. 11. On receipt of such reply within the period mentioned above, the authorized representative of the petitioners shall be given an opportunity of personal hearing through video conferencing and the documents that the assessee may produce shall be con ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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