Mandatory response period and escaped-income threshold under reassessment law invalidated the notice and barred extended limitation.

A reassessment notice was held invalid because the assessee was not given the mandatory minimum of seven days to respond under section 148A(b); the curtailed reply period vitiated the reassessment proceedings. The notice under section 148 was also treated as time-barred under section 149(1)(b) because extended limitation beyond three years and three months applies only where escaped income is fifty lakhs or more, and the amount involved was below that threshold. On these statutory preconditions, the reassessment order was quashed and the appeal succeeded.

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Issues: (i) Whether the show-cause notice issued under section 148A(b) was invalid for not granting the assessee not less than seven days to respond; (ii) Whether the notice under section 148 was barred by limitation under section 149(1)(b) in relation to the escaped income threshold.

Issue (i): Whether the show-cause notice issued under section 148A(b) was invalid for not granting the assessee not less than seven days to respond.

Analysis: The statutory requirement under section 148A(b) is that the assessee must be given not less than seven days and not more than thirty days from the date of the notice, unless extension is granted. The notice in question was served on 22.02.2023 and required a reply by 27.02.2023, which did not satisfy the minimum period mandated by law.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148A(b) was invalid, and the reassessment proceedings were vitiated.

Issue (ii): Whether the notice under section 148 was barred by limitation under section 149(1)(b) in relation to the escaped income threshold.

Analysis: Section 149(1)(b) permits issuance of notice beyond three years and three months only where the escaped income amounts to or is likely to amount to fifty lakhs or more. The addition in the present case was Rs. 31,10,000, which was below the statutory threshold.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148 was barred by limitation under section 149(1)(b).

Final Conclusion: The reassessment order was quashed for non-compliance with the statutory preconditions, and the assessee's appeal succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment notice is invalid where the mandatory minimum response period under section 148A(b) is not afforded, and extended limitation under section 149(1)(b) cannot be invoked unless the escaped income meets the prescribed monetary threshold.

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