SC sets aside Bombay High Court order penalising senior tax official

Tarun SharmaMoneycontrol News 

The Supreme Court (SC) has set aside an order by the Bombay High Court (HC) that had imposed a fine on the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (Mumbai) and made adversarial remarks about his performance.

The division bench of the apex court, led by Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Hemant Gupta, while hearing a plea filed DCIT Sanjay Jain, said the HC had issued directions without issuing a specific notice to the petitioner.

“We find merit in the submission, which has been urged on behalf of the petitioner that the High Court was not justified in its remarks against the petitioner and in issuing the directions which it has issued. Apart from the fact that these directions were issued without specific notice to the petitioner, we find that they were wholly unnecessary having regard to the list before the High Court,” the bench said.

The HC had imposed a Rs 1.5-lakh fine against Jain after Nu-Tech Corporate Services had filed a case against the decision of the Income Tax Department to adjust refunds due to it against its pending demands.

When the company had challenged the revenue department’s assessment and demand, the revenue officials failed to submit the documents in the court.

Besides imposing a fine, the HC also noted that the officer’s superiors take note of the court’s order, and take any action if needed.