Limitation for reassessment notices under the new regime: a belated section 148 notice was held invalid and could not support reassessment.

Reassessment notices carried forward from the old regime under the post-2021 procedure must still be issued within the surviving limitation period after excluding the time lawfully available under section 148A(b). Applying that principle, the fresh section 148 notice was issued after the remaining time had expired, so it was time-barred, invalid, and without jurisdiction. The reassessment orders founded on that notice could not be sustained and were quashed in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the notice issued under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for the relevant assessment years was barred by limitation and, if so, whether the reassessment orders could be sustained.

Analysis: The reassessment in both years arose from notices originally issued under the old regime and then carried into the new regime after the Supreme Court directions in Ashish Agarwal. The controlling question was the surviving time available to the Assessing Officer after exclusion of the period covered by the deemed notice and the time granted to the assessee under section 148A(b). Applying the legal position explained in Rajeev Bansal and followed in the coordinate bench decision relied upon, the order held that the surviving limitation had expired before the fresh notice under section 148 was issued on 27.07.2022. Since the notice was issued beyond the available time, it was treated as invalid and without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148 was time-barred and the reassessment orders based on it were quashed, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where reassessment proceedings under the post-2021 regime are initiated on the basis of a deemed notice carried forward from the old regime, the fresh notice under section 148 must be issued within the surviving limitation period after excluding the time lawfully available under section 148A(b); a notice issued beyond that surviving period is void and cannot sustain the reassessment.

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