2014 (10) TMI 707

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....y Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle-I(1), Gurgaon, under Section 142(2A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'), directing the petitioner to get its accounts audited from M/s S.S.Kothari Mehta & Company, New Delhi. Counsel for the petitioner submits that apart from the fact that the impugned order does not assign any reason for arriving at the conclusion and/or issuing directions, to get account books audited, order dated 30.03.2014 has been passed in gross and blatant violation of the first proviso to Section 142(2A) of the Act which mandates the grant of an opportunity of hearing to an assessee before an order is passed requiring an assessee to get its accounts audited from an auditor to be nominated ....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....sidered and permission was obtained from the Commissioner of Income Tax, Faridabad, before the impugned order was passed. This apart, a representative of the petitioner was present before the assessing officer on 27.03.2014 but did not add anything beyond the contents of the reply and, therefore, no further opportunity was required to be granted to the assessee. It is further submitted that an opportunity of hearing need not necessarily translate into an oral hearing and may take the shape of calling upon the parties to file reply. It is further submitted that the impugned order must be read in the context of interim orders passed during the period of six months, preceding the passing of the impugned order. A perusal of these orders reveals....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....erative that before passing an order an assessing officer is required to afford a reasonable opportunity of being heard to an assessee? The question so posed, would necessarily require reproduction of Section 142(2A) of the Act, alongwith its first proviso which read as follows: - "142 (1) xxx xxx xxx 142(2) xxx xxx xxx (2A) If, at any stage of the proceedings before him, the Assessing Officer, having regard to the nature and complexity of the accounts, volume of the accounts, doubts about the correctness of the accounts, multiplicity of transactions in the accounts or specialised nature of business activity of the assessee, and the interests of the revenue, is of the opinion that it is necessary so to do, he may, with the previous appro....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

....statutory pre-condition to the exercise of power under Section 142(2A) of the Act, and if an assessing officer fails to afford a reasonable opportunity of being heard, before passing an order under Section 142 (2A) of the Act, such an order would be null and void. A perusal of interim orders, appended with the reply as Annexure R1, and the impugned order reveals that the assessing officer granted an opportunity to file a reply but after receiving the reply did not grant an opportunity of being heard. It would be appropriate to reproduce interim orders from 27.03.2014 upto 30.03.2014 which read as follows: - "27.03.2014 CA Sh.Dharmendra Gupta, AR, attends. Submits reply to show cause for audit u/s 142(2A). 27.03.2014 After considering the ....