TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (10) TMI 97
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..... 393.97 Crore attracting the tax demand of Rs. 648.26 Crore and such high-pitch assessment order could not have been passed against a non-existing OBC under PAN "AAACO7436M" which was already requested to be cancelled since 2013 and hence, and for no fault on part of the petitioner, the impugned order is passed on account of total non- application of mind and negligence on part of the respondent No.1. We therefore deem it to be a fit case to impose exemplary cost of Rs. 1 Crore upon the respondent to be paid to the petitioner-Bank for passing such high pitched assessment order contrary to the facts available on record. 13. After the judgement was dictated in the open Court, whereby, we deemed it fit to impose exemplary cost of Rs. 1 Crore upon the respondents while signing the present judgement, we felt that an opportunity should be granted to the respondents to show cause as to why such cost should not be imposed. 14. We are conscious of the fact that quantum of the cost proposed to be imposed by us is a small fraction of the quantum of the high-pitched assessment and consequent demand raised upon the petitioner-PNB. 15. In view of the above, let this m....
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....ssee (Legal Heir) files an application for registration as legal heir with the JAO directly, the ITBA allows for legal heir/event marking by the JAO. d. The information related to legal heir (such as PAN, date of registration of the legal heir, etc.) is not populated on the Insight portal. (ii) If any request made by the assessee in e-filing portal requires verification/approval by the JAO, whether any mechanism exists to alert the JAO for further necessary action? For example, for event marking in PAN module in ITBA by the JAO in cases of amalgamation, merger, demerger, dissolution, death of assessee, etc.? Reply: Request made by an assessee through the e-filing portal is processed based on certain documents which are required to be filed on the e-filing portal, without the need of any verification/approval from JAO. However, event marking on the PAN module of ITBA is a separate process which is carried out by the JAO. In cases such as amalgamation, merger, demerger, dissolution, or death of the assessee, where requests are received directly by the JAO, the corresponding event marking is done by the JAO in the PAN module of ITBA. The event marki....
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....ess orders passed or uploaded only by departmental users such as CIT(A), JCIT(Appeals), and the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP). Additionally, orders issued by CPC and forms submitted through the e- filing portal are also accessible to the AO through ITBA. However, orders issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, Hon'ble High Courts, Hon'ble ITAT, NCLT/NCLAT, etc., are available on separate IT platforms and currently, there is no integration between these platforms and the ITBA system. Consequently, orders issued by these institutions are not directly available to the Assessing Officer within ITBA. Integration with third-party databases is planned as part of the Insight 2.0 project which would make the orders of these institutions available to the Assessing Officers. 4. With regard to the query about the measures and initiatives being taken to identify duplicate PANs by the Systems to make such duplicate PANs inactive, the queries were sent by e-mail on 22.04.2025 to DGIT(System), New Delhi. The reply received from the office of the DGIT(Systems), New Delhi is as under: (i) Whether any functionality/ mechanism exists presently to identify duplicate ....
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....cate PANs through enhanced measures is proposed to be explored under the upcoming PAN 2.0 Project. However, any such system-flagged cases will require verification and confirmation by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) before taking action to deactivate or delete the duplicate PAN." 5. Referring to the above reply received from DGIT(Systems), it was submitted on behalf of the respondents that the system is being continuously updated to improve the tax payer services and in view of the development of new functionalities being undertaken as part of the new ITBA 2.0, PAN 2.0 and Insight 2.0 projects to enable synchronization of data between such projects along with integration with third party databases, the same would make the order passed by the institutions available to the Assessing Officer. 6. Respondent nos. 2 and 3 have also tendered unconditional apology and prayed to grant relief with respect to cost proposed to be levied. 7. On the other hand, learned advocate for the petitioner submitted that National Faceless Assessment Center has failed to inform the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer about the communication dated 02.02.2022 regarding merger of Oriental Ban....
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...., rather than applying their mind exercising discretion and recording reasons and only on the basis of the information flagged in Insight Portal, Jurisdictional Assessing Officer is taking action for issuing notice for reopening without conducting any inquiry with regard to the veracity of the information provided by the Insight Portal. 12. It was therefore, submitted that the respondent officers should be subjected to cost as may be deemed fit to be imposed by this Court. 13. Having considered the submissions made by learned advocates for both the sides and on perusal of the response of DGIT(Systems), it appears that the respondent income tax department is taking corrective proactive steps for resolution of the issues which are raised in this petition pertaining to initiation or proceedings on dead person/amalgamated companies or business and inactive or multiple PANs in the software system of the department. 14. On perusal of the affidavit in reply filed on behalf of respondent nos.2 and 3, it transpires that instead of action being taken on the basis of information available and exercise of discretion, the respondent department is taking action as per the information ma....