On Friday, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court sentenced a retired deputy commissioner of Income Tax to one week’s imprisonment & imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 for contempt of court.
The court ordered Harish Gidwani to surrender before the its senior registrar on Friday afternoon. The court also directed the senior registrar to report on the action taken by August 12.
However, a little later, a division bench stayed the order of the single judge, providing temporary relief to the retired officer.
The sentence was passed by a single bench of Justice Irshad Ali on a contempt plea filed by senior counsel Prashant Chandra. The court had earlier denied a request from Gidwani’s counsel for a 10-day extension to surrender.
Justice Ali remarked, “A fine alone would not serve the ends of justice because Gidwani (now retired) was a senior officer, responsible for assessing the applicant, Prashant Chandra, & had committed a grossly reprehensible act. If he is not punished, it would send a wrong message to other officials in the Income Tax Department that such misconduct warrants only a warning or fine, despite the court’s heavy caseload.” The petitioner, Chandra, argued that on March 31, 2015, the high court quashed an assessment notice issued by the Income Tax Department for the year 2012-2013.
The court ruled that Chandra had relocated to Delhi during the assessment year & had filed his taxes there, making it inappropriate for the IT Department to issue an assessment notice in Lucknow.
Chandra claimed that despite the high court’s order, the assessing officer failed to remove the outstanding entry from the IT Department’s web portal for seven years & seven months, causing damage to his reputation.
He further alleged that this act by the IT Department was a deliberate & wilful disobedience of the court’s March 31, 2015 order.
On November 1, 2023, the bench framed contempt charges against Gidwani, who was the assessing officer responsible for not deleting the outstanding entry for such a prolonged period. After completing the hearing, the bench reserved its order, which was delivered on Friday.
Taking a serious view of the matter, Justice Ali observed, “If the judiciary is to perform its duties & functions effectively & remain true to the spirit with which they are sacredly entrusted, the dignity & authority of the courts must be respected & protected at all costs.” The court further noted, “This court is also of the opinion that Gidwani’s actions were not only contemptuous but also malicious. He mishandled the petitioner’s finances despite clear directions from this court, & there is no justifiable reason for his actions.
“If Gidwani’s conduct is evaluated in the context of the allegations against him, it appears to have been a deliberate act to harass the petitioner in defiance of the court’s order,” it said.
As a result, the bench found Gidwani guilty under Section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, & sentenced him to simple imprisonment for one week along with a fine of Rs 25,000.
“In case of default, he would serve an additional day of simple imprisonment,” the bench added.
A division bench, however, stayed the order of the single judge.