Court sets aside impugned tax order and notice, remands for fresh assessment within specified timelines.

The Court set aside the impugned order under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act and the notice under Section 148, both dated 21st July, 2022, for assessment year 2015-16. The matter was remanded back to the Assessing Officer for a fresh decision within eight weeks. The Assessing Officer was directed to issue a subsequent notice enclosing all relevant material within two weeks, allowing the Petitioner to respond within three weeks. The writ petition and pending applications were disposed of, with the rights and contentions of the parties left open for further proceedings.

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Issues:
Challenging order under Section 148A(d) and notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for assessment year 2015-16.

Analysis:
The Petitioner challenged the order dated 21st July, 2022, under Section 148A(d) and the notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for the assessment year 2015-16. The Petitioner contended that the order wrongly mentioned a claim for LTCG of Rs.56,04,000/-, which was not made in the ITR filed for the relevant assessment year. Additionally, it was argued that the Petitioner had submitted detailed responses on three occasions, but these were not considered before passing the impugned order. The submissions were made on 22nd June, 2022, 16th July, 2022, and 18th July, 2022.

The Court noted that the responses dated 16th July, 2022, and 18th July, 2022, submitted by the Petitioner were not taken into account by the Assessing Officer while passing the impugned order under Section 148A(d) of the Act. Referring to a previous case, the Court highlighted that in similar circumstances where the Assessing Officer had not considered the replies and documents filed by the assessee, the order under Section 148A(d) was quashed.

Consequently, the impugned order under Section 148A(d) of the Act and the notice under Section 148 of the Act, both dated 21st July, 2022, were set aside. The matter was remanded back to the Assessing Officer for a fresh decision within eight weeks. The Assessing Officer was given the liberty to issue a subsequent notice enclosing all relevant material and information, after redacting third-party information, within two weeks. In such a scenario, the Petitioner could file a reply within three weeks.

With the above directions, the present writ petition along with pending applications were disposed of. It was clarified that the rights and contentions of the parties were left open for further proceedings.

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