The Delhi High Court has quashed the 2016 income tax reassessment notices issued to NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, calling the move arbitrary, unlawful, and a violation of constitutional rights. The court also ordered the Income Tax Department to pay ₹1 lakh as token costs to each of the petitioners.
A bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinod Kumar, while allowing the petitions, observed that the second round of reassessment proceedings—initiated “for practically the same issue”—was a clear abuse of process and lacked jurisdiction.
“The facts of the present case speak volumes as to how the proceedings are arbitrary and contrary to the statutory provisions, besides being against the fundamental principles of adjudicatory process,” the bench noted.
The impugned notices dated March 31, 2016, pertained to reassessment of the Roys’ income for the assessment year 2009–10 over certain “interest-free” loans received from RRPR Holding Pvt. Ltd., the promoter entity of NDTV, where both petitioners were shareholders and directors.
The first reassessment process began in 2011 and concluded in 2013 with no additions made to their income. Despite this, a fresh round was triggered in 2016 based on a complaint—an action the court said did not reveal any new facts.
“The so-called complaint did not add anything new. The assessing officer had already summoned and examined the books of RRPR in the earlier round,” the court held.
The High Court sharply criticised the authorities for reinitiating proceedings under Sections 147 and 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, calling it a move that undermines the very foundation of a fair adjudicatory process.
“Such repeated reassessments cause unnecessary harassment to the assessee on one hand and result in unpredictability—if not anarchy—on the other,” the court said.
The bench held that the reassessment proceedings violated the petitioners’ fundamental rights under:
- Article 14 (Right to Equality),
- Article 19 (Right to Practice Profession), and
- Article 300A (Right to Property).
The court categorically ruled that no justification existed for reviving old issues without fresh material and that such action amounted to a violation of due process.
“The respondents cannot justifiably trigger reassessment all over again. It hits at the root of fair adjudicatory process,” the order stated.
While observing that no monetary compensation could truly suffice for the harassment caused, the court awarded token costs of ₹1 lakh each to both petitioners.
“We cannot leave these cases without imposing any cost,” the bench said.
