As per Article 19 of Constitution of India, all citizens of India shall have the right: -

Ø      To freedom of speech and expression.

Going though the above Article, I, am writing the following article: -

I want to approach the kind attention of all citizens of India on provisions of IT Act 1961, which deals with matters on refunds.

On going through the IT Act 1961, and relevant Finance Act, neither IT Act, 1961 nor Relevant Finance Act, provides limitation of time for refund payment by IT Department.

What does it mean? It means that Govt. is a partner with well-defined share in income of taxpayer in case of prosperity with well-defined limitation of time.

Also jurisprudentially, Govt. is the creditor and taxpayer is the debtor. As a result, Govt. requires interest for delayed payment of taxes at a rate as compared to interest receivable by the taxpayer. Why is there such discrimination in interest rates?

When the turn of Govt. comes, it does not prescribe limitation of time for refund payment!

As per Article 14 of Constitution of India, there is equal protection of law. It means equality of treatment in equal circumstances. It means equality must be administered i.e. like should be treated as like and among unequal , the same law should not be applicable.

In my opinion, IT Act, 1961, violates Article 14 of Constitution of India to the extent that IT Act1961 does not provide limitation of time for refund payment. Hence IT Act 1961 is dumb on this point. We can say that it is death of IT Act1961, on this point.

Recommended Approach: - For example, as in case of refund u/s 156, amount demanded must be deposited within 30 days of service of notice of demand, similarly refund must also be paid within 30 days from the date of refund determination or date of intimation u/s 143 of IT Act1961. Also the rate of interest must be increased on refund. By the above example, my aim is to give equal right to taxpayer. Also there must be full- fledge system of directly crediting refund amount to bank account of taxpayer and a new section must be inserted in IT Act1961 for limitation of Time for refund payment.