https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=7721 Even where section 28 of the Income-tax Act, 1922 prescribed no express limitation for penalty proceedings, the power had to be exercised within a reasonable time. An unexplained and inordinate delay in issuing a penalty notice was treated as an abuse of power because stale proceedings could prejudice the assessee by limiting the ability to respond effectively. On the facts, the long departmental inaction and the gap between the notices were not reasonably justified, so the delayed penalty proceedings were invalid and liable to be quashed in writ jurisdiction. en-us Tue, 23 Apr 1968 00:00:00 +0530 Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:08:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=7721 Even where section 28 of the Income-tax Act, 1922 prescribed no express limitation for penalty proceedings, the power had to be exercised within a reasonable time. An unexplained and inordinate delay in issuing a penalty notice was treated as an abuse of power because stale proceedings could prejudice the assessee by limiting the ability to respond effectively. On the facts, the long departmental inaction and the gap between the notices were not reasonably justified, so the delayed penalty proceedings were invalid and liable to be quashed in writ jurisdiction. Case-Laws Income Tax Tue, 23 Apr 1968 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=7721