The Gauhati High Court closed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed seeking strict adherence to the prevailing laws under the Income Tax Act and the other related laws.
The PIL has been filed by Kewal Nirmal Kalsi Salutory Trust .
The prayer made in this PIL is as follows:-
“In the premises aforesaid, it is, therefore, respectfully prayed that Your Lordships may be pleased to issue a Rule, call for the entire records and issue a Rule calling upon the to show cause as to why writ in the Respondents nature of mandamus and/or certiorari or any other writ should not be issued to the Respondent authorities thereby directing them for strict adherence to the prevailing laws under the Income Tax Act and the other related laws and schemes and also take stringent action against all such persons who are responsible implementation and following of the same but have remained silent and/or have themselves violated the prevailing laws and upon perusing the causes shown and hearing the parties, be pleased to make the Rule absolute by directing them for strict adherence to the prevailing laws under the Income Tax Act and the other related laws and schemes and also take stringent action against all such persons who are responsible implementation and following of the same but have remained silent and/ or have themselves violated the prevailing laws and/or pass such other order/ orders as Your Lordships may deem fit and proper.”
It has been submitted by the petitioner that many of the public authorities are not taking necessary steps in terms of Sections 269 ST, 271 DA and 285 BA of the Income Tax Act.
Section 269 ST of Income Tax Act prohibits any transaction above Rs. 2 Lakhs, otherwise by account payee cheque or an account payee bank draft or use of electronic clearing system through a bank account operating transaction.
It is further provided under Section 271 DA that if a person receives any amount in contravention of the provisions of Section 269 ST, he shall be liable to pay by way of penalty, a sum equal to the provided amount inter alia.
It is the case of the petitioner that it has been found that many of the transactions which are occurring in the State are in violation of Section 269 ST and the authorities concerned are not levying the penalty as provided under Section 271 DA.
Accordingly, the PIL has been filed seeking appropriate directions to the authorities concerned.
The Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Soumitra Saikia was of the view that if any of the provisions of the Income Tax Act is not followed by any authorities, the petitioner is at liberty to approach the competent authority as provided under the Act rather than approaching this Court by way of PIL at the first instance.
Accordingly, the present PIL is closed by the High Court with liberty to the petitioner to approach the competent forum under the Income Tax Act to highlight any violation of Act provisions.