TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (2) TMI 341
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....he writ petition is given in the impugned judgment, we choose not to reiterate those in this judgment since the appeal of the Revenue lies in a very narrow compass. 2. In the writ petition, the challenge of the writ petitioner was to Ext. P5 order passed by the Income Tax Officer Ward-2, Aluva, in terms of Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act [hereinafter referred to as the 'IT Act'] and the consequential notice [Ext. P6] issued to the writ petitioner by the said Officer under Section 148 of the IT Act proposing a re-assessment of the income for the assessment year 2019-20. 3. The grievance of the writ petitioner was that while the appellant herein had issued the notice under Section 148A(b) of the IT Act [Ext. P3] calling up....
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.... the notice being not less than seven days. The contention, in other words, is that so long as the show cause notice envisaged in Section 148A is issued to the assessee, the opportunity of being heard is to be seen as provided. Reliance is placed on the decisions in Union of India (UOI) v. Jyoti Prakash Mitter - [(1971) 1 SCC 396] and Union of India (UOI) and Ors. v. Jesus Sales Corporation - [(1996) 4 SCC 69]. 6. Per contra, it is the submission of the respondent/writ petitioner that the object of Section 148A of the IT Act was to enable the assessee to have an effective opportunity of clarifying its position vis-a-vis the allegations in the show cause notice before the authority that issued the said notice, and hence, the providing of ....
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....of material available on record including reply of the assessee, whether or not it is a fit case to issue a notice under section 148, by passing an order, with the prior approval of specified authority, within one month from the end of the month in which the reply referred to in clause (c) is received by him, or where no such reply is furnished, within one month from the end of the month in which time or extended time allowed to furnish a reply as per clause (b) expires; Provided that the provisions of this section shall not apply in a case where,- (a) a search is initiated under section 132 or books of account, other documents or any assets are requisitioned under section 132A in the case of the assessee on or after the 1....
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....ion to provide the assessee with an opportunity of being heard, as contended by the Revenue. On the contrary, the service of show cause notice is only the first step in the process of extending an opportunity of being heard to the assessee and the purpose of the show cause notice is to confine the deliberations that are to follow to only those matters that are specified in the notice. If the obligation of the Revenue to provide an opportunity of being heard was to come to an end with the mere issuance of the show cause notice, then there would be no meaning in the assessee filing a reply to the show cause notice for the Revenue would then contend that the consideration of the reply of the assessee was not contemplated under the statutory pr....
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....the nature of the inquiry, the rules under which the Tribunal is acting, the subject-matter that is being dealt with, and so forth. Accordingly, I do not derive much assistance from the definitions of natural justice which have been from time to time used, but, whatever standard is adopted, one essential is that the person concerned should have a reasonable opportunity of presenting his case." 12. Thus, while deciding whether or not a statutory provision mandates the grant of a personal hearing, the approach of the court must be "pragmatic rather than pedantic; realistic rather than doctrinaire, functional rather than formal and practical rather than precedential." [Per Mukharji, C.J. in Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India - [(1990) 1 SCC ....