THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.361 of 2003 June 20, 2011 Between: Action for Welfare and Awakening in Rural Environment (AWARE) Represented by its Director, Sri K.Satyanarayana ... Petitioner And The Assistant Director of Income Tax (Exemptions) – 1, 6th Floor, Ayakar Bhavan, Hyderabad ...Respondent THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V.V.S.RAO AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION No.361 of 2003 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Sri Justice V.V.S.Rao) Being aggrieved by an order of attachment passed by the respondent under Section 281B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act), the assessee invoked the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court. Invalidation is sought on the ground that the impugned attachment order is in violation of Articles 14 and 19(1)(c) of the Constitution of India. Under Section 281B of the Act the assessing officer is empowered to pass a provisional attachment order of the property of the assessee, for the purpose of protecting the interests of the Revenue, if it is necessary to do so. Subsection (2) of Section 281B of the Act mandates that the attachment shall cease to have effect after the expiry of a period of six months. The first proviso is, however, an exception to subsection (2) and provides that the Chief Commissioner, Commissioner or Director General may extend the period of six months. However, the total period of extension shall not exceed two years. Indisputably more than two years expired by August, 2004 as the impugned attachment was made on 14.8.2002. In that view of the matter, nothing survives in this writ petition. We may observe that the property provisionally attached by the impugned order shall be free from any attachment unless a further order was passed under the said or any other provision, and recovery proceedings have been/are being initiated separately. The writ petition, for the above reasons, is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs. ________________ (V.V.S. RAO, J) ______________________________ (RAMESH RANGANATHAN, J) June 20, 2011 YS