Today, On 19th January, Delhi High Court quashed IT reassessment notices issued to NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy, also imposing a Rs.2 lakh penalty. The case concerned interest-free loans advanced to RRPR Holding, the promoter entity of NDTV at issue.
The Delhi High Court has cancelled the income tax reassessment notices issued to NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy in March 2016.
This decision concerns interest-free loans given to RRPR Holding, the entity that promotes NDTV.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinok Kumar also imposed costs of Rs. 2 lakh on the Income Tax Department for issuing the notices.
The court noted,
“As a conclusion to the foregoing discussion, both the writ petitions are allowed. Notices dated March 31, 2026, issued to the petitioners and any consequent order or proceedings thereto are quashed. No amount of cost can be treated as enough for these cases. However, we cannot leave these cases without imposing any. Hence, we impose a token cost of Rs1 lakh to be paid by the respondents to each of the petitioners.”
Additionally, the court mentioned that any proceedings initiated as a result of these notices will also be annulled.
The case pertains to allegations regarding certain interest-free loans provided to RRPR Holding Pvt. Ltd.
Prannoy and Radhika Roy approached the High Court in November 2017 to challenge the income tax notices, claiming that the reassessment proceedings represented a second reopening for the same assessment year.
They argued that the department had previously reopened the assessment in July 2011 and had thoroughly examined the same issues during those proceedings, culminating in a reassessment order in March 2013.
The petitioners argued against the assessing officer’s assertion that the earlier reassessment was limited in scope, contending that once an assessment is reopened, all under-assessed income should be reviewed.
They further maintained that revisiting the same issue constituted a change of opinion, which is not permitted under the law.
The court was informed that similar reassessment actions against RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd are already pending before the High Court, where a stay on conclusive orders is in effect.
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A different bench of the High Court had quashed the notice to RRPR in September 2024.
Senior Advocate Sachit Jolly, along with advocates Yiyushti Rawat, Devansh Jain, and Sarthak Abrol, represented Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy.
Advocates NP Sahni, Indraj Singh Rai, Sanjeev Menon, Rahul Singh, and Gourav Kumar acted on behalf of the Income Tax Department.