CHENNAI: The Income Tax department has rejected the contention of actor-turned politician Vijay, who challenged the order imposing penalty of Rs 1.5 crore for non-disclosure of income during the assessment year 2015-16 citing delay in issuing the order.
The department, in its counter affidavit to the Madras High Court, said the penalty order issued on June 30, 2022 was well within the time limit, and as per law.
When the petition filed by Vijay came up for hearing before Justice C Saravanan on Tuesday, his counsel submitted the penalty order was “barred by limitation”.
He said having completed the assessment on December 30, 2017, the penalty proceedings for the surrendered income or undisputed income should have been initiated and completed on or before June 30, 2018, and hence the show cause notice itself should be considered as nullity in law; and so, the penalty order was also time barred.
However, the counter affidavit, filed through senior standing counsel for I-T department AP Srinivas, rejected the contentions stating that the imposition of penalty was purely on the basis of the 2021 order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and that too within six months of the ITAT order.
“The 2022 penalty order was well within the time limit and is sustainable in court of law, and hence the court is requested that the penalty order may be allowed to proceed,” it said. The judge adjourned the hearing to October 10.