Assessee was a non-resident Indian living in Dubai . Search and seizure operations under section 132 were undertaken at premises of group of hotels which included assessee along with other family members .It was alleged that assessee had indulged in evading disclosure of a large amount of undisclosed foreign assets/income in offshore jurisdictions and had indulged in diversion of unaccounted assets/income with purpose of circumventing jurisdiction of Indian revenue authorities . Consequently, Look Out Circular (LOC) was issued against assessee . On writ, assessee had challenged said LOC on the ground that last summon was issued to assessee two years back and since then he had not been called by authorities . Court held taht LOC could not be permitted to continue for such a long period without there being any cogent and valid reason . Since assessee had complied with summons and had cooperated with ongoing investigations against him by revenue and furthermore in absence of any material which indicated that assessee was likely to be called for investigation in near future, LOC issued against him was to be quashed . Mere fact that information sought through Foreign Tax and Tax Research from other jurisdictions such as UAE was still awaited could not be reason to keep LOC against assessee pending to curtail his fundamental rights and thus, LOC is quashed . (AY. 2020-21)
Jayant Nanda v. UOI (2024) 298 Taxman 276 (Delhi)(HC)
Black Money ( Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets ) and Imposition of Tax Act , 2015 .
S. 10: Assessment – Non -Resident Indian living in Dubai – Serach – Undiclosed foreign asseets – Look Out Circular (LOC) – Mere fact that information sought through Foreign Tax and Tax Research from other jurisdictions such as UAE was still awaited could not be reason to keep LOC against assessee pending to curtail his fundamental rights and thus, LOC is quashed . [ ITAct , 132 , Art. 226 ]