High Court · 2025

B Venkateswara Reddy, S/o B. Venkata Reddy Aged-.alo^qt p4..yt1':' occ..torr*tis, r/o c/o B. Srinivasa Reddy, Advocate, fiat No l02, D' No 40- 814-1 , Akshaya Tower Srinivas Nagar, Kurnoor city. ...pETrroNER AND 1 2 The Union of lndia' Ministry of Finance,. Department of Revenue (Central Board of Direct Taxes) New Delhi. in" Oeortv bommissioner of ln"om", Tax Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Unit Ay;ka; Bhavan, HYderabad. ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High court may be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or Diiection, more particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, to declare the inaction of the 2nd Respondent in takenstepstopassordersonthereplysubmittedbythepetitioneron16-2-2025 to the summons issued dl. 27 -1-2025 inspite of the personal visits, followed by a legal notice dt.2-3-2024, as being illegal, arbitrary and unjust IAN O:1 OF 2025 PetitionunderSectionl5lCPCprayingthatinthecircumstancesstatedin theaffidavitfiledinsupportofthepetition,theHighCourtmaybepleasedtopass orders directing the Respondent No.2 herein to pass orders on the reply dl. 16-2-2025 submitted to the summons d|.27-1-2025 and to intimate the action takentothepetitionerherein,pendingdisposalofthemainWritPetition Counsel for the Petitir:ner: SRl. G. SUNDARESAN Counsel for the Resipondent No.1: SRI GADI PRAVEEN KUMr\R DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA Counsel for the Flespondent Nos.2: Ms. B. SAPNA REDDY, SC FOR INCOME TAX The CoUrt mader the t>llowing: ORDER ,,. THE HON ,BLE SRI JUSTICE P.SAM KOSHY AND THE HON' BLE SRI JUSTICE NARSIN GRAONANDIKONDA WRIT PETITION No.13130 oF 2025 ORDER: @er Hon'ble Sn Justice P.Sam Kosh4) The instant writ petition has been filed seeking for the following relief: "to issue an oppropiate Writ Order or Direction more on" il'tii nature of Wnt of Mandamus to declare i"rtiiiia ihe inocti6n of the 2nd Respondent in. taken steps fo pass ord'ers on tn" repfg s'Amitted bg the petitioner on 16'2'2025 to the summons i"",;.i at 2712015 inspite of the personal_ uisits jii"i"a bg a legii notice dt 2'3'2024 as beinq illegal arbitrary 'an"d unjusl and' io gront such other relief '

2. The petitioner seems to be more aggrieved of the summons that were issued to the petitioner on 27 'Ol'2025 (Annexure P-1) asking the petitioner to appear before the authority on O3'O2'2O25 @ 11:30 a'm' to give evidence as a witness' The contents of the summons also reveal that there was a caution put by the authorities' in the event' if there is a failure on the part of the petitioner to attend before the authorities and give appearance with required book of account the authority may impose penalty of Rs'25,OOO/- as per Section 54A of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 and also be prosecuted under section 208 of Bharathiya Nyaya Sanhita' 2023'

3. On the y-,r,:rious date of hearing, i.e., on 28.O1.,2(t25, when the matter is tak.:n rp for hearing, learned Stancling Co unsel for the Income Tax Dr:p,iu'tment took notice ald prayed for tr,r.c days time to seek instrucl.ic n r;

4. Today, u,h e rL the matter is taken up for hearinp , there is no representaticn or behalf of the petitioner inspite, of the matter being taken up in thr, r;r:,:ond round.

5. The lea:re<1 litanding counsel for the Income Tzx D epartment on the other hanrl i tforms that she has instructions _o s tate that the notice, dated 2't c .1 .2025, is one which was issue<l in its rsual format. The said surrrn':or si was issued for the reason that tlre f,etitioner had earlier filed elei.er (i 1) complaints in respect of certain e vasion of tax being carried orrt try different persons. The learnec{ Stan ling counsel further submrts; th rLt in order to proceed further o. tht: sard eleven (r r) complaints thar tlLr: petitioner had made available to the department, they intended t. r.iLlce his statement as he had given a conrplarnt on an affidavit. MezLn'white two comprairt" t.r" arready pr.cessed and disposed of ar-r rl 't,r the remaining compraints the prer.;ence of the petitioner was sioug,ht. The learned Standing cou.sel fur,her informs that infact it i:s 'he petitioner who has been evading the sl.mmons and is also not app,:eL'ing before the respondent authori:ies so that his evidence/ staterrre, t can be recorded. Rather, orL-the rthr r hand, the , petitionerhasbeensendinglegalnoticesafterlegalnoticesfornot proceeding with the complaints any further' 6. According to the learned Standing Counsel, in order to proceed further on the complaints, since the petitioner has sworn an affidavit along with the complaint it would be necessa4/ for recording his statement before proceeding further' That as per the instructions from the department, the petitioner carr still appear on any date convenient to him before the authorities, so that his statement can be recorded andheneednotwaitforaseparateSummonsornoticeissuedbythe department.Thatasandwhenthepetitionerfeelscomfortable'hecan appearbeforetheauthoritiesmakinghimselfavailableforrecordingof statement. The learned Standing counsel on a query put by the Bench submits that the petitioner would also be at liberty to enter appea-rance along with a Lawyer or a registered Chartered Accountant' however, it is the statement of the petitioner alone which would be recorded for proceeding on the complaints' On the basis of the instructions so made available by the learned Standing Counsel' we do not find any further necessity in keeping the writ petition pending' The petitioner accordingly would be at liberty to avail the observation made by this court in the preceding paragraphs' 7 . Accordingly, this writ petition stands disposed of' As a scc rr: , miscellaneous applications pendLng if any, shall stand closed. Nr < osts. SDI AHMED,ABD ASSI$\TAN' ULLAH KHAN r REGISTRAR //TRUE COPY// I' ECT'ION OFFICER ,/ / -/ To,

1. 2 J 4 5 6 The Unior-t (Jf lrrdia, Ministry of. Finance' Departmenl o' Reuenue (Central g;ird ot t)ir':ct 1'axes) New Delhi' The Deoutv Cc nrmissioner #ln"orn"' Tax Benami T"ans rctio rs (Prohibition) g* tr I I 3ll ] € Bl]E "c"i', 'i;lrrl c"ioi- dHivL'L'i\ lndia [OPJ(.;] On" gg 1: lr/s Two CD Oopit:'; Btu t]. SAPNA REDDY, SC FOR INCOME TA)( IOI'UC] I st''.?sltE8 4 ry, ne vo...,11 t ot .1 c s olici or General of '"xurvrAn'b"prry J BSR Yv HIGH COUR'I DATED:3010t112025 I 1 JtiN t6 t) /l ( o .L c') ,r ORDER WP.No.13130 of 2025 DISPOSINGi (]IF THE WRIT PETTTION WITHOUT COSTS 4 -t - ",D(dL Yt^-- --ii\I) \b\"'