The Delhi High Court on Monday quashed the income tax reassessment notices issued to NDTV founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy in March 2016 over certain interest-free loans advanced to RRPR Holding, the promoter of NDTV.

A Division Bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Vinok Kumar also slapped costs of ₹2 lakh on the Income Tax Department for issuing the notice

It said that while no amount of cost can be enough in these cases, the Income Tax Department must pay a token cost of ₹1 lakh each to Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy.

“As a conclusion to the foregoing discussion, both the writ petitions are allowed. Notices dated March 31, 2016, 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 ₹1 lakh to be paid by the respondents to each ft he petitioners," the Court ordered.

It further said that all consequent proceedings initiated pursuant to the notices will also be quashed.

A detailed judgement is awaited.

The IT proceedings related to the allegation with respect to certain interest free loans which had been advanced to RRPR Holding Pvt. Ltd.

Prannoy and Radhika Roy had approached the High Court in November 2017 against the income tax notices, arguing that the reassessment proceedings amounted to a second reopening for the same assessment year.

It was submitted that the department had earlier reopened the assessment in July 2011 and had specifically examined the same issues during those proceedings, which concluded with a reassessment order in March 2013.

The petitioners challenged the assessing officer’s observation that the earlier reassessment was limited in scope, arguing that once a reassessment is initiated, the entire under-assessed income can be examined. They also contended that reopening the same issue amounted to a “change of opinion,” which is impermissible under the law.

The court was informed that similar reassessment proceedings against RRPR Holding Pvt Ltd are already pending before the High Court, where a stay on final orders is in place. The notice to RRPR was quashed by a separate bench of the High Court in September 2024.

Senior Advocate Sachit Jolly with advocates Viyushti Rawat, Devansh Jain, and Sarthak Abrol appeared for Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy.

Advocates NP Sahni, Indraj Singh Rai, Sanjeev Menon, Rahul Singh and Gourav Kumar represented the Income Tax Department.