Court allows assessee's appeal, dismisses revenue's appeals, and sets aside block assessment order. Parties to bear own costs.

The Court allowed the assessee's appeal, dismissed the revenue's appeals, and set aside the block assessment order dated 29.01.1998. The parties were directed to bear their own costs, with the option to seek revival of appeals pending the Apex Court's judgment in Ramaiah Reddy's case. The revenue's counsel was granted permission to file the power for revenue within four weeks.

---

---

Issues:
1. Block assessment order passed within the time period
2. Validity of the block assessment order based on the time limitation
3. Interpretation of the starting point of limitation for block assessment

Analysis:

Issue 1: The appeals were filed by the revenue challenging the Tribunal's order granting relief to the assessee on merits, while the assessee appealed against the Tribunal's finding that the block assessment order was not passed within the time limit. All appeals were consolidated and addressed together.

Issue 2: The search was conducted on the assessee's premises under Section 132 of the Act, with documents seized on various dates. The contention was whether the block assessment order was passed within the statutory time limit. The Court analyzed the authorization date for the search and held that the assessment order passed on 29.01.1998 was beyond the limitation period, as it should have been completed by 30.11.1997 based on the search dates.

Issue 3: The Court referred to the judgment in C.RAMAIAH REDDY VS. ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX, which clarified that the limitation period starts from the date of the last authorization executed, not when the authorized officer concludes the search. The Court emphasized that putting a prohibitory order does not extend the limitation period. As there was only one authorization dated 05.11.1996 for the search, the block assessment order passed on 29.01.1998 was deemed time-barred and set aside.

The Court allowed the assessee's appeal, dismissed the revenue's appeals, and set aside the block assessment order dated 29.01.1998. The parties were directed to bear their own costs, with the option to seek revival of appeals pending the Apex Court's judgment in Ramaiah Reddy's case. The revenue's counsel was granted permission to file the power for revenue within four weeks.

---