Court sets aside orders attaching bank accounts in challenge to Income Tax Act, allows Revenue to issue fresh order

The court set aside the orders dated 18 September 2018 and 8 March 2019, along with the attachment of the petitioner's bank accounts, in a challenge to an order under section 179 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The court ruled that the Revenue could issue a fresh order after providing a new notice to the petitioner, without examining the merits of the case.

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Issues:
Challenge to order under section 179 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Analysis:
The petition challenged the order dated 18 September 2018 and the corrigendum dated 8 March 2019 passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax under section 179 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The petitioner, along with another director, was assessed for an amount of Rs. 82.32 crore for the assessment year 2015-16. Despite pending appeals, the Deputy Commissioner issued a notice calling upon the directors to pay the tax dues of the company. The petitioner responded, stating that there was no evidence to suggest that the tax dues could not be recovered from the company.

Subsequently, the Deputy Commissioner passed an order holding the directors liable to pay the outstanding dues. However, a corrigendum was issued on 8 March 2019 disposing of the petitioner's objections. Another director of the company had filed a writ petition challenging the same order, which was set aside by the court on 24 June 2019, along with the attachment of bank accounts. The court noted that the issue in the present petition was identical to the previous case and set aside the order against the petitioner as well.

The court clarified that they did not examine the merits of the case and allowed the Revenue to pass a fresh order after issuing a new notice to the petitioner. Finally, the writ petition was disposed of with the orders dated 18 September 2018 and 8 March 2019 being set aside, along with the attachment of the petitioner's bank accounts.

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