2025 (3) TMI 1290 - SCH - Income Tax

Supreme Court dismisses Special Leave Petitions, upholds High Court's order; delay condoned, all applications disposed.

SC dismissed the Special Leave Petitions, choosing not to interfere with the 'common impugned order' from the HC. The Court condoned the delay and granted ... Proceedings u/s 153C - issuance of the notice was preceded by the drawl of a Satisfaction Note by the jurisdictional AO - importance of material recovered in the course of a search or a requisition made and a right to reassess u/s 153A and 153C - As decided by HC [2024 (4) TMI 461 - DELHI HIGH COURT] except for a few exceptions which were noticed in the introductory parts of this judgment, the writ petitions forming part of this batch, impugn the invocation of Section 153C in respect of AYs’ for which no incriminating material had been gathered or obtained. The Satisfaction Notes also fail to record any reasons as to how the material discovered and pertaining to a particular AY is likely to “have a bearing on the determination of the total income” for the year which is sought to be abated or reopened in terms of the impugned notices. The respondents have erroneously proceeded on the assumption that the moment any material is recovered in the course of a search or on the basis of a requisition made, they become empowered in law to assess or reassess all the six AYs’ years immediately preceding the assessment correlatable to the search year or the “relevant assessment year” as defined in terms of Explanation 1 of Section 153A. The said approach is clearly unsustainable and contrary to the consistent line struck by the precedents noticed above. HELD THAT:- Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and having gone through the materials on record, we see no reason to interfere with the common impugned order passed by the High Court. Special Leave Petitions are, accordingly, dismissed. The Supreme Court, presided over by Hon'ble Mr. Justice J. B. Pardiwala and Hon'ble Mr. Justice R. Mahadevan, issued a judgment concerning Special Leave Petitions. The Court, after hearing the counsel for the petitioners, decided not to interfere with the 'common impugned order' issued by the High Court. Consequently, the Special Leave Petitions were dismissed. Additionally, the Court condoned the delay and allowed exemption applications. Any pending applications were also disposed of.