Reassessment notices under section 148 lacked jurisdiction where reopening was sought without withdrawal of the underlying charitable approval.

Repeated reassessment notices under section 148 were held invalid where the Income-tax Officer sought to reopen the same assessment year shortly after earlier notices, and the petitioner's factual averment that the notices aimed to withdraw section 35CCA relief was accepted in the absence of an affidavit-in-reply. Because the charitable trust's approval had not been withdrawn, the case was treated as stronger than the earlier precedent relied on, and the officer was found not to have acquired jurisdiction to reopen the assessment. The writ petition was allowed.

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Issues: Whether the Income-tax Officer had jurisdiction to issue notices under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for reopening the assessment for the relevant assessment year.

Analysis: The challenge was to the reassessment notices issued for the same assessment year within a short span of time. In the absence of any affidavit-in-reply, the averments that the notices were issued with a view to withdraw relief under section 35CCA, while the approval of the charitable trust had not been withdrawn, were accepted for the purpose of the petition. On those facts, the case was treated as stronger than the earlier decision where reopening under section 148 had been held to be without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The Income-tax Officer had not acquired the necessary jurisdiction to reopen the assessment under section 148, and the petition was allowed.

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