Reassessment limitation and TOLA relief: time-barred notice under section 148 could not sustain AY 2015-16 reopening.

Reassessment notice for AY 2015-16 was held invalid because the later notice under section 148 was issued after the applicable limitation period had expired. The first notice issued on 06.04.2021 was treated as a notice under section 148A(b) in line with Ashish Agarwal, but the subsequent order under section 148A(d) and fresh notice dated 29.07.2022 could not revive a time-barred reassessment. Applying Rajiv Bansal, the Tribunal held that TOLA relaxation was unavailable for this assessment year, so the reassessment proceedings could not be sustained and the assessee succeeded on the jurisdictional issue.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment notice issued for Assessment Year 2015-16 was valid in view of the Supreme Court's rulings on the transition from section 148 to section 148A and the limitation under section 149.

Analysis: The first notice under section 148 was issued on 06.04.2021 and, following the procedure approved in Ashish Agarwal, it was treated as a notice under section 148A(b). An order under section 148A(d) was then passed and a fresh notice under section 148 was issued on 29.07.2022. For Assessment Year 2015-16, the limitation period under the unamended reassessment regime had expired, and the later notice was issued after the relevant cut-off. The Tribunal further applied the Supreme Court's decision in Rajiv Bansal to hold that the TOLA relaxation was not available to sustain the notice for this assessment year.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice dated 29.07.2022 was invalid and was quashed, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The reassessment proceedings for Assessment Year 2015-16 could not be sustained, and the assessee's appeal succeeded on the jurisdictional issue of limitation.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the reassessment notice for Assessment Year 2015-16 is issued after the expiry of the applicable limitation period and the statutory relaxation under TOLA is unavailable, the notice and consequent reassessment cannot be sustained.

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