In a judgment passed by the High Court of Orissa in UK Mahapatra & Co v ITO, it was decided that the income tax authority did not have any power to enter the business premises of a chartered accountant (CA), lawyer or tax practitioner, to conduct a survey of the premises under section 133A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (ITA). The authority would only be able to do so if the person being surveyed has stated that their accounts, documents and records are kept in the office of their CA, lawyer or tax practitioner.
In this case, the petitioners, a group of CAs, challenged the action of the tax authorities which had conducted a survey in the petitioners’ business premises, impounding and retaining books of accounts and documents belonging to their clients.
The CAs alleged that the survey was conducted illegally and that all consequential action violated the provisions of section 133A of the ITA.
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The update of court judgments is compiled by Bhasin & Co, Advocates, a corporate law firm based in New Delhi. The authors can be contacted at lbhasin@vsnl.com. Readers should not act on the basis of this information without seeking professional legal advice.
