The Delhi High Court bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Subramonium Prasad has held that the taxpayer could not file a response under the Faceless Scheme due to a technical glitch in the e-filing portal.
The petitioner/assessee has challenged the ex-parte order passed under Section 147 read with Section 144 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The department passed the order under Section 147 read with Sections 144 and 144B of the Income Tax Act without taking the written submission of the petitioner on record.
The petitioner contended that, without any fault, the petitioner was prevented from duly submitting his response on the E-filing Portal under the National Faceless Assessment Scheme as the “Submit Response Tab” was disabled. The petitioner instead furnished the necessary details along with documents as attachments through an e-mail to the department. Though the respondent refused to take the email on record, it asked the petitioner to raise its grievance by writing an email to efilingwebmanager@incometax.gov.in.
The petitioner submitted that he had filed his grievance on the same day with the department. However, the department, despite stating in its email that the issue had been escalated to the concerned team and asking the petitioner to wait for some more time for the resolution of his query/issue, went ahead and passed the impugned ex-parte order.
The court held that it is settled law that a writ petition is maintainable if the principles of natural justice have been violated.
“In the present instance, since the petitioner, due to a technical glitch, has not been able to file his response/written submission, the impugned order dated March 29, 2022 is set aside. However, the respondent is directed to re-file its reply dated March 24, 2022, with the National Faceless Appeal Centre [NFAC] within a week. The respondent is directed to pass a fresh assessment order within six weeks thereafter in accordance with the law,” the court directed.
Case Title: Ankit Kaul Versus National Faceless Assessment Centre
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