JYOTSANA INVESTMENTS COMPANY LIMITED Vs. R. K. DE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revisional application, filed under Sec. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is directed against the proceedings in Case No. C-1271 of 1986, currently pending before the Learned Metropolitan Magistrate, 4th Court, Calcutta. The petitioners seek the quashing of a criminal prosecution initiated by the Income Tax Department under Ss. 276B(ii) and 278B of the Income Tax Act, 1961, relating to the alleged non-payment of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for the Assessment Year 1983-1984. The gravamen of the complaint pertained to the alleged non-payment of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) for the Assessment Year 1983-1984, stemming from a search operation conducted as far back as 1983.

(2.) The procedural history of this litigation reveals a distressing trajectory of judicial inertia followed by misplaced zeal. The litigation is a vestige of a search operation conducted in 1983. In 1986, the Department filed approximately 54 criminal cases against the petitioner company and its directors. In 1988, a Division Bench of this Court stayed the proceedings pending the disposal of a compounding application filed by the petitioners.

(3.) In 2001, the Revenue Department quantified the compounding fee at Rs.3,96,943.00, which was promptly paid by the Petitioner. Despite this substantive settlement and a subsequent fifteen-year period of judicial silence, the Trial Court inexplicably revived the matter in 2015. On April 27, 2016, the Learned Magistrate erroneously concluding that no stay was subsisting issued warrants of arrest and property attachment orders. Notably, a warrant was issued against Accused No. 3, Mr. P.N.K. Sharma, despite the fact that he was long deceased. Furthermore, the Court ordered property attachment even after the Petitioner paid an additional interest amount of Rs.2,07,935.00 on July 5, 2017, to exhaust all possible claims.