Delhi High Court Appoints Arvind Datar As Amicus Curiae In Plea Seeking Extension Of Due Dates For Compliances Under Income Tax Act, GST Act In Covid

The Delhi High Court has recently appointed Senior Advocate Arvind Datar as Amicus Curiae in the plea seeking extension of all the due dates of compliances specified under the Income Tax Act, GST Act, Employees Provident Fund Act, Employees' State Insurance Act and other allied labour laws owing to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A division bench comprising of Justice Talwant Singh and Justice Rajiv Shakdher ordered thus:

"We appoint Mr. Arvind Datar, learned senior counsel, as Amicus Curiae, to assist the Court, in the captioned matters. Counsels-on-record, for the parties, will ensure that case papers are served on Mr. Datar during the course of the day, via e-mail."

The development came while the bench was hearing a plea filed by Society for Tax Analysis and Research seeking interim direction to extend the due dates for completing the compliances under the above mentioned Acts.

The plea also highlighted that expecting the tax payers to complete their tax compliances within the due dates in the middle of the pandemic restrictions "must be treated as expecting the tax payer to go against the directions/restrictions and therefore is illegal looking to the condition and therefore an impossible task."

The plea has been moved through Advocates Dr. Avinash Poddar, Dr. Gaurav Gupta, Jaspal Singh Sethi and Suresh Aggarwal.

The plea alternatively sought a relief of waiver of interest or any kind of penalty for completing the compliances beyond the specified dates.

Furthermore, it has also been stated that the extension and relaxation of compliance requirements under the various laws is important "to save life of such assessees and professionals and their family members."

"If the due dates are not extended, then it shall be against the rights reserved under Article 21 of Constitution of India, 1950 as such compliance may require movement at the cost of their life. Article 21 casts the obligation on the state to preserve life." The petition read.

The respondents in the matter are Union of India through Ministry of Finance, GST Council, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, CBDT, Employees State Insurance Corporation and Employees Provident Fund Organization.

Title: SOCIETY FOR TAX ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH v. UOI & ORS.

Click Here To Read Order