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2020 (4) TMI 335 - HC - Income TaxRecovery proceedings - AO required the petitioner to deposit 20% of the disputed amount - projection of Tax on Returned Income - projection of the petitioner was that the prepaid taxes lying with the revenue were to the tune of ₹ 175,33,83,084/-, and the said amount was much more than the 20% of the disputed demand payable at ₹ 164,52,95,215/- - explanation furnished by petitioner for not disclosing the MAT tax liability, is that the Assessing Officer had not accepted the return on MAT basis and, therefore, the said amount was not reflected - HELD THAT:- Petitioner, while circulating the tabulation at the initial hearing of the petition, projected the “Tax on Returned Income” as ₹ 69,83,85,442/- on the assumption that its returned income was ₹ 210,24,62,383/-, and without accounting for the several additions and disallowances made by the Assessing Officer. Pertinently, in the Assessment order, the figure of ₹ 69,83,85,442/- is nowhere to be seen. If the petitioner were to be fair to the Court, the petitioner would have reflected the amount of ₹ 2,247,073,334/ – which was the minimum tax liability of the petitioner, assuming that its return based on the consolidated financial statement, were to be accepted. Against the column indicating the “Tax on admitted liability (Returned Income)”, the said amount of ₹ 2,247,073,334/- would have been reflected, which would have completely changed the equation that was projected before us by the petitioner. The explanation furnished by Mr. Balbir Singh, learned senior counsel for the petitioner for not disclosing the MAT tax liability, is that the Assessing Officer had not accepted the return on MAT basis and, therefore, the said amount was not reflected. We do not find any weight in this submission. Since, the MAT liability, even according to the petitioner, was the higher of the two figures i.e. the tax on the net taxable income (as returned by the petitioner), and the MAT amount, the petitioner could not have run away from the fact that its liability was, at least, if not more than ₹ 2,247,073,334/-. Thus, we were clearly misled by the petitioner at the preliminary hearing of the petition which led to our passing the interim order. Petitioner has invoked the discretionary extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this Court, the petitioner was expected to approach this Court with clean hands, which, unfortunately, we find is completely lacking in the present case. We are, therefore, not inclined to exercise our discretionary writ jurisdiction in favour of such a petitioner. Accordingly, we dismiss this petition with costs quantified at ₹ 5 lakhs to be paid to the Delhi High Court Advocates’ Welfare Trust.
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