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Akansha Kapoor @ Akanksha Kapoor @ Akanksha Berry vs. Income Tax Office

Criminal Miscellaneous Case · CNR No. DLHC010844502024Decided 14 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
CRL.M.C. 9184/2024CNR: DLHC010844502024
Justice Manoj Jain

Background

The petitioner sought quashing of a complaint filed by the Income Tax Office alleging non-deposit of TDS by a company for financial year 2016-17, in which she had been treated as "Principal Officer" on the basis that she was a Director of the accused company. She was served a show-cause notice under Section 2(35) of the Income Tax Act and later summoned by the trial court along with other accused. Crucially, the Senior Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department admitted before the High Court that the petitioner was never actually a Director of the accused company.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that the entire chain of proceedings, the show-cause notice, the Section 2(35) order, the Section 279(1) sanction order, and the complaint itself, rested solely on the premise that the petitioner was a Director, which the Department itself now conceded was factually incorrect. Since her prosecution as "Principal Officer" depended entirely on a directorship that never existed, the Court found the prosecution fallacious and unsustainable and quashed it as against her. The Court clarified this order was based on the peculiar facts of the case and should not be treated as a precedent.

Lesson Learnt

A person cannot be prosecuted as a company's "Principal Officer" for tax defaults on the basis of a directorship the tax department itself admits she never held: factual errors in the foundational notice can be fatal to the entire prosecution.

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