The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday reserved its verdict on a PIL petition questioning the constitutional validity of the recently introduced Section 234F of the Income Tax Act, to levy a fee for filing of I-T returns after the due date from the assessment year 2018-19.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice R. Devdas reserved the verdict after hearing submissions made by a counsel representing the petitioners, Pankaj S. Shah and four others.
The petitioners have claimed that the penalty for delay in filing as a “fee” means that this is a charge for rendering of services to the other party but the I-T Department is not providing any service to the taxpayers, who file their returns. It has been claimed that levy of a flat fee would be burdensome on taxpayers,who did not file their return of income within the prescribed time limit, due to genuine hardship and difficulty, including those cases wherein there is a claim for refund and no balance payment of tax is due from their end.
The Section 234F is “unconstitutional” and violates the principles of natural justice as it does not provide any opportunity of hearing the aggrieved taxpayers on the question of levy of fee for not filing I-T returns within a prescribed period. The petitioner’s counsel pointed out to the court that Madras High Court recently issued notices to the authorities concerned in a similar petition questioning the validity of Section 234F.
