Time-bar under TOLA renders reassessment notices issued after April 1, 2021 for AY2015-16 invalid.

Application of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation) Act's temporal relief and the substituted reassessment regime requires that reassessment proceedings which cannot be completed within the TOLA-prescribed period are time-barred; the court applied the concession in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal that notices issued on or after 01.04.2021 for Assessment Year 2015-2016 fall within that class and concluded the impugned Section 148A(d) order and subsequent notices issued after that date are barred by limitation and were set aside as invalid.

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Issues: Whether Order dated 27.07.2022 under Section 148A(d) and notices dated 27.07.2022 under Section 148 and 09.12.2024 under Section 142(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2015-2016 are barred by limitation in view of the decision in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal and the application of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 (TOLA).

Analysis: The legal framework comprises the substituted regime by the Finance Act, 2021 for Sections 147-151 and the procedural safeguards introduced by Section 148A, together with the temporal relaxations under TOLA. In Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal the Revenue conceded (para 19(f)) that for Assessment Year 2015-2016 all notices issued on or after 01.04.2021 must be dropped as they cannot be completed within the period prescribed under TOLA. The record shows the impugned order under Section 148A(d) dated 27.07.2022 and the subsequent notices dated 27.07.2022 and 09.12.2024 were issued after 01.04.2021 and therefore fall within the class of notices identified in the Rajeev Bansal concession. Prior directions to the Revenue to examine deemed notices in light of Rajeev Bansal were not complied with in this case. Applying the statutory scheme, the concession in Rajeev Bansal and the facts that the impugned proceedings relate to AY 2015-2016 and were initiated post-01.04.2021, the impugned order and notices are time barred under the applicable limitation regime as interpreted in Rajeev Bansal.

Conclusion: The impugned Order dated 27.07.2022 under Section 148A(d) and notices dated 27.07.2022 under Section 148 and 09.12.2024 under Section 142(1) for Assessment Year 2015-2016 are barred by limitation and are set aside; decision in favour of the assessee.

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