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2022 (4) TMI 638 - BOMBAY HIGH COURTStay of demand - condition of deposit of 20% as a pre-condition for grant of stay - appeal filed by the petitioner before the first Appellate Authority is pending and thus the Appellate Authority be directed to dispose of the said appeal expeditiously without directing the petitioner to deposit the amount of 20% of the tax demand - HELD THAT:- Perusal of the order passed by the Assessing Officer on 24.5.2019 clearly indicates that the Assessing Officer has dealt with all the issues raised by the petitioner as to why the Assessing Officer shall exercise his discretion not to impose any condition of deposit of 20% as a pre-condition for grant of stay. The petitioner was not satisfied with the order passed by the Assessing Officer and filed Review Petition, which also came to be rejected by the learned Commissioner of Income Tax by passing a detailed reasoned order dated 26.8.2019. Assessing Officer was justified in not exercising the discretion to grant unconditional stay or stay on payment of lesser amount than 20% of the tax demand. The Assessing Officer while rejecting the said case of the petitioner has recorded reasons in great detail. The Commissioner of Income Tax while rejecting the Review Application has recorded reasons as to why the order passed by the Assessing Officer shall not be interfered with. We do not find any infirmity in the order passing by the Assessing Officer as well as by the Commissioner of Income Tax while rejecting the request of the petitioner for granting unconditional stay during the pendency of the appeal filed by the petitioner. We are not inclined to accept the submission of the petitioner that since the appeal is pending for quite some time, instead of directing the petitioner to comply with the order passed by the Assessing Officer which is not recalled by the order passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax, the Appellate Authority shall be directed to dispose of the appeal expeditiously. The Appellate Authority has not fixed any date for hearing of the appeal in view of the petitioner not having complied with the conditional order passed by the Assessing Officer. Though this petition was filed by the petitioner on 26.9.2020, no interim relief has been granted by this Court in favour of the petitioner. In our view, the petition is devoid of merit and is accordingly dismissed. Time to deposit 20% of the tax demand is extended by four weeks from today.
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