Section 153C proceedings fail where the assessee is the searched person, not an "other person," under prior binding precedent.

Proceedings initiated under Section 153C were held unsustainable where the assessee was the searched person and not an "other person" for purposes of Sections 153A and 153C. The Court treated the issue as governed by an earlier Division Bench ruling on the same search matrix, which had held that a person searched under a warrant cannot be proceeded against under Section 153C as another person. On that basis, the impugned notices, assessment orders, demand notices and consequential letter were quashed in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether proceedings initiated under Section 153C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 were sustainable when the petitioner was a searched person and not an other person for the purposes of Sections 153A and 153C of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The search and the consequential proceedings arose from the same factual matrix that had already been examined in connected matters involving the same searched person and the same search warrants. The Court treated itself as bound by the earlier Division Bench decision, which had held that a person against whom search is conducted falls within the category of searched person and cannot be proceeded against as an other person under Section 153C. In that view, the initiation of proceedings under Section 153C was inconsistent with the governing legal position for such search-based assessments.

Conclusion: The proceedings under Section 153C were unsustainable and the impugned notices, assessment orders, demand notices and consequential letter were quashed in favour of the assessee.

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