TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (9) TMI 939
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.... read with section 144-B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('the Act' for brevity). The primary ground, on which the assessment order was challenged, is by contenting that it is in gross violation of principles of natural justice. 3. The Learned Single Bench dismissed the writ petition, at the admission stage, holding that as against the assessment order, the appellant has appellate remedy under the Act, and he has to avail the alternate remedy and there is no ground to by-pass such remedy. The Learned Writ Court did not go into the merits of the matter. Being aggrieved by such order, the appellant is before us by way of this appeal. 4. We have heard Mr. Raja Karthikeyan, Learned counsel for the Appellant and Mrs. Hema Muralikrishnan, Learned S....
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.... the details and the 3rd day being Sunday (21.03.2021). Since the appellant had to obtain the credit card details from ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank, he would not comply with the same within the time frame given. (5)Furthermore, the Authority called for the details on nine heads, which according to the appellant were voluminous and only two working days' time was provided, which was grossly insufficient. (6) In the meantime, the respondent issued Show Cause Notice dated 31.03.2021 enclosing the draft assessment order and granted one day time to file objection. The appellant stated to have received the credit card statements from the Standard Chartered Bank on 15.04.2021 and furnished all the details to the respondent on 17.04.2....
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....n defiance of the fundamental principles of judicial procedure; or has resorted to invoke provisions, which are repealed; or where an order has been passed in violation of the principles of natural justice. Applying this formulation, the High Court noted that the appellant has an alternate remedy available under the GST Act and thus, the petition was not maintainable. 26. In this background, it becomes necessary for this Court, to dwell on the "rule of alternate remedy" and its judicial exposition. In Whirlpool Corporation v. Registrar of Trademarks, Mumbai , a two judge Bench of this Court after reviewing the case law on this point, noted: "14. The power to issue prerogative writs under Article 226 of the Constitution is plenary in nat....
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....far as the view taken by the High Court that the remedy by way of recourse to arbitration clause was available to the appellants and therefore the writ petition filed by the appellants was liable to be dismissed is concerned, suffice it to observe that the rule of exclusion of writ jurisdiction by availability of an alternative remedy is a rule of discretion and not one of compulsion. In an appropriate case, in spite of availability of the alternative remedy, the High Court may still exercise its writ jurisdiction in at least three contingencies : (i) where the writ petition seeks enforcement of any of the fundamental rights; (ii) where there is failure of principles of natural justice; or (iii) where the orders or proceedings are wholly wi....
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....rit petition should not be entertained when an efficacious alternate remedy is provided by law; (v) When a right is created by a statute, which itself prescribes the remedy or procedure for enforcing the right or liability, resort must be had to that particular statutory remedy before invoking the discretionary remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution. This rule of exhaustion of statutory remedies is a rule of policy, convenience and discretion; and (vi) In cases where there are disputed questions of fact, the High Court may decide to decline jurisdiction in a writ petition. However, if the High Court is objectively of the view that the nature of the controversy requires the exercise of its writ jurisdiction, such a view would not r....
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....alse the appellant for not furnishing the statement of account of the credit cards. The appellant has stated as to why there was a delay in furnishing the details, as he had to obtain the same from the concerned banks and nine particulars called for were voluminous. It may be true that the assessment was an E-Assessment. Nevertheless, if it is a scrutiny assessment under Section 143(3) of the Act, the Assessing Officer is bound to provide adequate opportunity to the appellant. Adequacy of the opportunity would vary from case to case, and there is no straight jacket formula on the same. In case of Companies registered under the Companies Act or other financial institutions, they would have a large team of legal experts to assess and who can ....