ALWAYE CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS ASSOCIATION Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) As all these Writ Petitions involve a common issue and are filed in the nature of Public Interest Litigations, they are taken up for consideration together and disposed by this common judgment. For the sake of convenience, the reference to the facts and exhibits is from W.P.(C)No.35382 of 2018, filed by the Alwaye Chartered Accountants' Association.

(2.) The grievance of the petitioners as projected in these Writ Petitions is essentially against the announcement by the Income Tax Department, that the last date for filing returns for the assessment year 2018-2019, in the case of Kerala based assessees, who have to comply with the requirements of statutory audit in terms of Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('the Act' for short), is 31.10.2018. It is stated that, although the due date for filing of returns for such assessees under Section 139(1) of the Act is 30.9.2018, the Department had, taking note of the flood situation that affected the State in August 2018, suo motu extended the last date for filing the returns to 31.10.2018. The case of the petitioners, however, is that the mere extension by one month of the due date under Section 139(1) would not suffice, and insofar as assessees had encountered difficulties in the matter of finalising the audit of accounts under Section 44AB , and incorporation of those audited accounts in the return that had to be filed, the Department ought to have extended the time for filing returns in terms of Section 139(1) of the Act at least till 31.12.2018. In the Writ Petition, there is also a challenge to Ext.P11 order dated 26.10.2018 of the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue (CBDT), which refused to extend the time for filing of returns to 31.12.2018, as sought for by the All Kerala Chartered Accountants Association, Thrissur. The said order passed under Section 119 of the Act is impugned by the petitioners herein, inter alia, on the contention that the Central Board of Direct Taxes ('CBDT' for short) had, under similar circumstances, extended the time limit for filing returns in terms of Section 139(1) of the Act for larger periods in the State of Jammu & Kashmir, and hence there was no justification for not extending the time for filing return for a like period for the benefit of the assessees in the State of Kerala.

(3.) A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondent Income Tax Department wherein, after refuting the various averments in the Writ Petition and referring to the provisions of the Act, the order dated 26.10.2018 of the CBDT in the case of All Kerala Chartered Accountants Association, Thrissur is sought to be justified for the reasons stated therein. A rejoinder affidavit has been filed by the petitioners in W.P.(C)No.35382 of 2018, controverting the averments in the counter affidavit.