Plea in Punjab & Haryana High Court against uploading photos, address of tax defaulters on Excise Dept. website

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently sought the response of the State of Haryana and the Excise and Taxation Officer on a plea challenging the practice of uploading names and photographs of alleged tax defaulters on the Central Excise Department website [Surya Board Ltd. and Anr. v State of Haryana and Ors]. .Notice was issued by a Division Bench of Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Pankaj Jain. .The petition filed Surya Board Limited, a company involved in the business of manufacturing plywood and flush-doors, and its Director argued that the respondent tax authorities uploaded their names, addresses and photographs on the website of the Excise and Taxation Department, Haryana, thereby violating their right of privacy. .The plea stated that the company's premises were raided by the Directorate-General of Central Excise Intelligence, and after investigation a show-cause notice was issued. The Central Excise Department then initiated criminal prosecution against the petitioners.Though the show-cause notice was set aside by an order dated July 2013, the same was challenged by the Excise Department before the High Court. The appeal was dismissed as not maintainable and the High Court quashed criminal proceedings against the petitioner..The Central Excise Department then initiated proceedings for re-assessment of returns of the petitioner under the Haryana Value Tax Act, 2003 and the Haryana General Sales Tax Act, 1973.The Assessment Authority initiated re-assessment proceedings and passed orders creating additional demands for various periods. The petitioner filed an appeal against the said orders before the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner, who remanded the matter to the Assessment Authority for reconsideration which confirmed their first orders.Aggrieved by the orders, the petitioner filed an appeal before the Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner..The petitioner has now claimed that though the Commissioner reserved his judgment in the matter, the authorities published the name of the petitioners, their address and photographs on the Central Excise Department's website under the list of 'Defaulters'.The plea contended that the petitioners are covered under the Supreme Court judgement in Puttaswamy case where the right to privacy was recognised as a core fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution.It was submitted that there is no law, including the Haryana Value Added Tax Act, that allows the Central Excise department to move in such an arbitrary fashion against the petitioner and publish their details on the website.Advocate Amrinder Singh from Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan attorneys represented the petitioners.