TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (10) TMI 289
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....which it has already availed of by filing an appeal before the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), albeit without prejudice to this petition. We have, therefore, expressed no opinion on the merits of the matter. 3. The petitioner's case admittedly falls within the provisions of section 144C of the Act, which at the material time, read as under :- "144C(1) The Assessing Officer shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, in the first instance, forward a draft of the proposed order of assessment (hereafter in this section referred to as the draft order) to the eligible assessee if he proposes to make, on or after the 1st day of October 2009, any variation in the income or loss returned which is prejudicial to the interest of such assessee. (2) On receipt of the draft order, the eligible assessee shall, within thirty days of the receipt by him of the draft order:- (a) file his acceptance of the variations to the Assessing Officer, or (b) file his objections, if any, to such variation with, - (i) the Dispute Resolution Panel and (ii) the Assessing Officer. (3) The Assessing Officer shall complete the ass....
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.... the assessee or the interest of the revenue, respectively. (12) No direction under sub-section (5) shall be issued after nine months from the end of the month in which the draft order is forwarded to the eligible assessee. (13) Upon receipt of the directions issued under sub-section (5), the Assessing Office shall, in conformity with the directions, complete, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 153, the assessment without providing any further opportunity of being heard to the assessee, within one month from the end of the month in which such direction is received. (14) The Board may make rules for the purposes of the efficient functioning of the Dispute Resolution Panel and expeditious of the objections filed under sub-section (2) by the eligible assessee. (15) For the purposes of this section, - (a) "Dispute Resolution Panel" mean a collegium comprising of three Commissioners of Income-tax constituted by the Board for this purpose; (b) "eligible assessee" means.- (i) any person in whose case the variation referred to in sub-section (1) arises as a consequence of order of the Transfer Pricing Officer passed under su....
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....sment order under section 144C. He submitted that as the petitioner did not file any objection to the draft assessment order within thirty days from the date of the receipt thereof by the petitioner, respondent No.1 was required to pass a final assessment order on the basis of the draft assessment order within one month from the end of the month in which the period of filing the objection expired. 8. Subsequently, respondent No.1 received responses from various parties to whom the summons had been sent under section 133(6). The respondents confronted the petitioner with the same. The petitioner allegedly without prejudice to its rights responded to the queries. Respondent no.1 had also requested the petitioner to make a final submission taking into consideration the replies received by respondent No.1 from the third parties. The petitioner without prejudice to its rights, filed the response. 9. Ultimately respondent No.1 passed the final assessment order under section 143(3) on 29.2.2012 which is impugned in this petition. In this order, respondent No.1 made further disallowances. Firstly, the deduction under section 80IC has been denied completely whereas in the draft ass....
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....rit Petition, we do not for a moment suggest that Mr. Mistri's submissions are without substance. These indeed are important issues which will undoubtedly require a decision of the Court at some stage in a given matter or even in the present case at another stage in appropriate proceedings. They certainly are points and aspects that require serious consideration by the authorities and this Court. 13. Despite the same, we do not intend exercising jurisdiction under Article 226 for this matter involves several points, some of which require a detailed consideration on disputed questions of fact including as to whether the petitioner had made false statements as indicated earlier. It would serve no purpose and would indeed be cumbersome to have these issues decided in different proceedings. 14. There also arises the issue raised by the learned Advocate General to the effect that the petitioner had abandoned the right to proceed under section 144C and had chosen instead to proceed to a regular assessment. Whether such a course is permissible in view of section 144C or not is another matter. If it is permissible, it may well involve a further disputed question viz. whether the peti....
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....at is a mere technicality which may easily be overcome by an amendment. We are, however, not inclined to admit this Writ Petition on this hypothetical basis. In the event of it being so held, it will be open to the petitioner to file a petition challenging the validity of Section 144-C. The petition is not entertained as the point is purely hypothetical and premature. 19. Mr. Mistri further contended that the notice of demand dated 15.3.2012 is bad in law and liable to be quashed on the ground that it is in violation of the provisions of section 220. He submitted that there was no justification in curtailing the statutory period of thirty days in exercise of powers under the proviso to section 220(1). Even assuming that there is any merit in this submission, it would not survive as we intend taking care of this grievance in the order by granting the petitioner sufficient time. Indeed, it is now in any event, over six months since the notice was issued. 20. We must clarify that we did not permit either the learned Advocate General or Mr. Mistri to address us on the merits to any extent including on the question of the petitioner's conduct. The learned Advocate General wante....