Bombay High Court Slaps ₹25K Costs On Industrialist Anil Ambani For Seeking 'Urgent Hearing' In Tax Case

In a setback for industrialist Anil Ambani, the Bombay High Court recently imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on him for seeking an urgent hearing of his petition challenging the April 2022 notice issued to him by the Income Tax Department.

A division bench of Justices Mahesh Sonak and Jitendra Jain said it cannot consider the 'artificial urgency' made up by Ambani, who urged the judges to urgently hear his challenge to the show cause notice issued to him by the IT Department, way back in April 2022. 

"This facility for urgent circulation cannot be invoked by creating such artificial urgency. Besides, the challenge is only to a show cause notice. The Petitioner has moved the Court at the fag end when the assessment is likely to be time barred by 31 March 2025," the judges said in the order, passed on March 27.

Notably, a person, who has received a show cause notice by the IT authorities, can challenge the same within three years of being served. In the instant case, the notice was issued in April 2022, so Ambani had time only till March 31, to challenge the said notice. However, he did so in the fag end.

Having noted this fact, the judges, imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Ambani and ordered him to pay the said amount to Tata Memorial Hospital.

On April 1, senior advocate Rafique Dada appeared for Ambani and apprised the bench of the fact that the IT Authorities have already passed an assessment order and thus, he sought the court's permission to withdraw the plea. The judges, therefore, allowed the plea to be withdrawn. 

Appearance:

Senior Advocate Rafique Dada along with Gunjan Kakkad appeared for Anil Ambani.

Advocate Suresh Kumar represented the Union Government. 

Advocate Akhileshwar Sharma appeared for the IT Department. 

Case Title: Anil Ambani vs Deputy Director of Income Tax (Writ Petition (L) 8982 of 2025)

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Bom) 130

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