Invalid reassessment notice cannot be cured by acceptance of return or defeat relief on delay grounds.

A reassessment notice under Section 148 for Assessment Year 2015-16 was treated as jurisdictionally invalid in light of the Revenue's concession regarding notices issued on or after 1 April 2021 for that year. Because the foundation notice was void, the assessment order, demand notice and penalty orders built on it could not survive. Acceptance of the return filed in response to the notice did not cure the defect, and delay in approaching the Court did not bar relief where the notice lacked jurisdiction and the issue had already been conceded by the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether the notice issued under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2015-16, along with the assessment and penalty orders founded upon it, was liable to be quashed, and whether relief could be denied on the ground of delay or acceptance of the return.

Analysis: The impugned notice dated 18 April 2022 related to Assessment Year 2015-16, and the Revenue's concession before the Supreme Court in respect of notices issued on or after 1 April 2021 for that assessment year made the notice unsustainable. Once the foundation notice was invalid, the assessment order, demand notice, and penalty orders based on it could not survive. The fact that the return filed in response to the notice was accepted did not cure the jurisdictional defect. Delay in approaching the Court was also not treated as a bar to relief where the underlying notice was void and the Revenue had already conceded the issue.

Conclusion: The notice under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and all consequential assessment, demand, and penalty proceedings for Assessment Year 2015-16 were quashed. The challenge succeeded in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The reassessment proceedings founded on the impugned notice were held to be legally unsustainable, and all consequential actions were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment notice that is invalid for want of jurisdiction cannot be validated by acceptance of the return or defeated merely on the ground of delay, and all consequential proceedings founded on such notice must fall.

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