Sanjeev Narula JUDGMENT
Sanjeev Narula, J.
1. The present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India inter alia seeks mandamus for directing the respondent to grant refund as determined under Section 143(1) of the Income Tax Act ('the Act').
2. Petitioner, a company providing hospital services to the general public, filed its return of income for the Assessment Year ('AY') 2018-19 on 29th October, 2018 claiming refund of Rs. 1,43,48,810/- on account of excess deduction of tax at source. Revenue selected the case of the petitioner for limited scrutiny under Section 143(2) of the Act vide notice dated 22nd September, 2019. Subsequently, the 'Centralised Processing Centre' processed the return of income vide order dated 12th November, 2019 under Section 143(1) of the Act which resulted in refund of Rs. 1,57,83,688/-. However, since the said refund was not granted, petitioner submitted various representations dated 29.11.2019, 16.12.2019 and 17.12.2019 in this respect. Thereafter, in a personal hearing granted to the petitioner, it was informed that the refund had been withheld under Section 241A of the Act. Neither the copy of the order nor the reasons for withholding the refund were provided to the petitioner and accordingly, the present writ petition has been filed seeking directions in this regard. During the course of hearing, the reasons for withholding the refund were provided to the petitioner and consequently, the writ petition was amended to assai the order dated 10th January, 2020 whereby the refund has been withheld.
3. Mr. Mukesh Chand, learned counsel for the petitioner assailed the reasons for withholding the refund by arguing that the action of the respondent is contrary to Section 241A of the Act. He argued that the Income-Tax Officer, with the approval of the PCIT, withheld the refund merely on the ground that the case of the petitioner has been selected for limited scrutiny and cited the same reason for which the scrutiny has been ordered to be undertaken. He submitted that the aforesaid reasoning is thus inherently flawed and cannot be considered as a valid ground to withhold the refund. In support of his submission, learned counsel for the petitioner relied upon the judgments of this Court in Maple Logistics Private Limited v. Principal Commissioner of Income Tax and Ericsson India Private Limited v. Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax MANU/DE/0763/2020.
4. Ms. Vibhooti Malhotra, learned senior standing counsel for the Revenue on the other hand sought to distinguish the cases relied upon by the petitioner on facts. She argued that in the instant case, there are in fact genuine reasons for withholding the refund and therefore, the Assessing Officer has rightly exercised the jurisdiction under Section 241A of the Act. She submitted that the case of the petitioner has been selected for limited scrutiny and therefore till the finalization of the assessment, the refund has been rightly withheld under Section 241A of the Act.
5. The reasons for withholding the Revenue as contained in the letter dated 10th January, 2020 read as under:
"The assessee filed return of i........