Plea Seeking Extension For Compliances Under IT Act, GST Act, EPF Act, ESI Act & Other Allied Labour Laws : Delhi High Court Directs Center To File Complete Set Of Notifications Passed
The Single Bench of Justice Prathiba M Singh has directed the Central Govt to submit a complete set notifications/orders passed by the Government, which would be relevant qua the issues raised in the plea seeking interim direction to extend the due dates for completing the compliances under the above mentioned acts which are falling between 20th March, 2021 and 30th July, 2021 and relax certain provisions specified under the Acts.
“Let a complete set of the notifications/orders passed by the Government, which would be relevant qua the issues raised in this petition, in respect of the extensions and other compliances during the period of the pandemic, be placed on record, at least one day before the next date of hearing.”, the order stated.
Ld CGSC Mr Amit Mahajan submitted that certain notifications in respect of reliefs prayed for, have already been issued by the Government and some other notifications were also in the pipeline.
The plea filed by an Association of Professionals and Trade which is registered under Society Registration Act, 1860 called as Society for Tax Analysis and Research & filed through Advocates Dr. Avinash Poddar, Dr. Gaurav Gupta, Mr. Suresh Aggarwal and Adv Jaspal Singh Sethi had also sought direction for waiver of the late fees, Interest, penalties/damages and protection from prosecution etc. for delay in complying with the due dates as prescribed under the respective Acts.
The petitioners argued that the current situation in the country was worse than last year when lockdown was introduced. It has been averred that the Govt was proactive enough last year to extend the due date under various suo moto acts by way of Notifications, however irrespective of 3.5 lakh cases being reported everyday since the last many days, the Govt has not taken any step.
“For that, the petitioner states that amidst the pandemic restrictions and safety measures, expecting the taxpayers to complete all their compliances within the due date must be treated as expecting the taxpayer to go against the directions/restrictions and therefore is illegal looking at the condition and therefore an impossible task.”, the plea stated.
It has also been averred that due to guidelines of Delhi Govt not allowing movement of personnel, almost all the offices are working with limited staff from their home & most of their family members are corona positive due to which even staff is in home quarantine/isolation which made it not only difficult but impossible to complete client’s accounts work and other compliances on time. In this context, it was also averred that the offices are unable to promptly receive the details required for completing the various compliances due to which it is taking more than twice the average time.
Thereafter, the petitioners sought relief for issuance of writ of mandamus directing the respondents to extend any time barring with respect of any proceeding, in any of the above mentioned acts falling between 20th March, 2021 and 31st July, 2021 or till the pandemic is contained, whichever is earlier to an appropriate time in relation to passing of any order or issuance of any notice, intimation, notification, sanction or approval or any other action by any authority under act of the abovementioned Acts. Further relief was sought to issue directions for extending the period of limitation for the filing of appeal, reply or application or furnishing of any report, document, return statement or any other relevant record & keeping in abeyance all the summons which have been issued till date & the date of which is falling between 20th March 2021 to 31st July 2021 whichever is earlier & issue fresh summons only if such issuance is necessary but to conduct the proceedings or recording of statement in the proceedings through video conferencing mode only.
The petitioners also sought for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to lay down strict guidelines for actions such as inspection, search and arrest during the COVID or some specified period and to direct the respondents not to initiate or commence any inspection, search or arrest action unless such action is necessary and such action is as per the guidelines issued & to not initiate any coercive action on the assessees under various Acts unless necessary with prior approval of the appropriate authority till the time the pandemic settles down or for a specified period.
The matter is now listed for May 12, 2021.
Case Title: Society For Tax Analysis And Research V. Union Of India & Ors.| W.P.(C) 5114/2021