Gujarat High Court
Gspc Gas Company Ltd vs Deputy Commissioner Of Income Tax on 30 June, 2014
C/SCA/5632/2014 ORDER
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 5632 of 2014
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GSPC GAS COMPANY LTD....Petitioner(s)
Versus
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX....Respondent(s)
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Appearance:
MR B S SOPARKAR, ADVOCATE for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
MR SUDHIR M MEHTA, ADVOCATE for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.R. SHAH sd/
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE K.J.THAKER sd/
Date : 30/06/2014
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE M.R. SHAH) 1.0. The petitioner, a Government company, has challenged the action of the respondent authorities of insisting on petitioner depositing 100% tax demand raised by the Assessing Officer in his order of assessment, pending petitioner's appeal before the CIT [A].
2.0. It appears that for the A.Y 201112, the Assessing Officer passed order of assessment on 31st January 2014 and made various disallowances to the tune of Rs. 125.82 Crores [rounded off] and resultantly, raised an additional tax demand of Rs. 60.80 Crores [rounded off] inclusive of interest. It appears that against the aforesaid the petitioner preferred appeal before the learned CIT(A). That thereafter, aforesaid impugned order came to be passed by the Income Tax Authority on insisting that the petitioner deposit 100% demand pending the petitioner's appeal before the learned CIT(A) so that he may not be declared an assessee in default. It appears that feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned order, Page 1 of 4 C/SCA/5632/2014 ORDER the petitioner preferred Special Civil Application No. 4394 of 2014 before this Court. It was the case on behalf of the petitioner that all the four major additions made by the Assessing Officer were the subject matter which had cropped up in the earlier assessment years also. It was submitted that the disallowance of Rs. 9.62 Crores [rounded off] pertaining to depreciation on intangible assets was decided in favour of the assessee by the CIT [A] in earlier year and it is the Revenue which is before the Tribunal on the said issue. It was also the case on behalf of the petitioner that regarding rest of the three issues, the said issues with respect to earlier assessment year were before the learned Tribunal and the learned Tribunal had already heard the appeals and the decision was awaited. Therefore, the Division Bench vide order dated 25.3.2014 disposed of the aforesaid Special Civil Application with the following directions;
(a) The petitioner shall deposit 50% of the tax demand before the authorities latest by 21st April 2014;
(b) If in the meantime, the Tribunal decides the tax appeals concerning the assessee for the earlier years and grants any major relief pertaining to the additions made by the Assessing Officer in the current year, it would be open for the petitioner to move the Court for further relief by filing a fresh petition;
(c) In any case, the deposit shall be governed by the decision of CIT [A] in the pending appeal preferred by the assessee.
2.1. It appears that thereafter, the learned Tribunal has decided the appeals on all the issues with respective to the earlier assessment years,it is the case on behalf of the petitioner that so far as issues nos.1 and 2 are concerned, the learned Tribunal had sent back the matters to the AO and so far issue nos. 3 and 4 are concerned, the assessee has succeeded on merits and the learned Page 2 of 4 C/SCA/5632/2014 ORDER Tribunal has held in favour of the assessee. It is submitted that therefore, the impugned order directing the petitioner to deposit 100% tax demand (with respect to all the four issues) cannot be sustained, more particularly, in light of the decision of the Division Bench of this Court in the case of GSPC Gas Company Limited vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax rendered in Special Civil Application No.14746 of 2013 and other allied Special Civil Applications.
3.0. On the other hand, Shri Sudhir Mehta, learned counsel for the revenue has submitted that as such so far as disallowance with respect to issue no.2 is concerned, the same is held against the assessee by the decision of the Division Bench of this Court in the case 4748 of 2014. The aforesaid is disputed by Shri S.N. Soparkar, learned advocate for the petitioner.
4.0. Be that as it may, in view of the change circumstances and the subsequent orders passed by the learned Tribunal on the issue involved but with respect to earlier assessment years, we are of the opinion that let the appropriate authority reconsider the matter and pass appropriate order of deposit afresh in accordance with law and in light of the observations made by the decision of this Court in the case of GSPC Gas Company Limited (supra).
5.0. In view of the above and without expressing anything further on merits and in view of the subsequent development, the impugned order is quashed and set aside and the matter is remitted Page 3 of 4 C/SCA/5632/2014 ORDER back to the appropriate authority to pass appropriate order with respect to deposit to be made by the petitioner, pending the petitioner's appeal before the learned CIT(A) in light of the observations made by the Division Bench of this Court in the case of GSPC Gas Company Limited (supra) rendered in Special Civil Application No.14746 of 2013 and other allied matters. The aforesaid exercise shall be completed within a period of four weeks from today. With this, present Special Civil Application is disposed of.
sd/ (M.R.SHAH, J.) sd/ (K.J.THAKER, J) Kaushik Page 4 of 4