Reassessment notice invalid where approval came from the wrong authority, vitiating jurisdiction and quashing the resulting order.

A reassessment notice issued more than three years after the end of the assessment year required prior sanction from the higher specified authority under section 151(ii). Because approval was granted by the Principal Commissioner instead of the authority mandated by the statute, the jurisdictional condition for issuing notice under section 148 was not met. The defect went to the root of reassessment jurisdiction, so the notice was invalid and was quashed. The consequent reassessment order under section 147 also could not survive.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment notice under section 148 issued on 29.07.2022 for Assessment Year 2016-17 was valid when the approval was accorded by the Principal Commissioner instead of the higher specified authority under section 151(ii), and whether the consequent reassessment order could survive.

Analysis: The reassessment was initiated after more than three years from the end of the relevant assessment year, so the applicable approval requirement was the one prescribed for the extended time period under section 151(ii). The governing scheme required prior sanction from the higher specified authority before issuing the notice under section 148. Since the notice was issued with approval from the Principal Commissioner rather than the authority mandated by section 151(ii), the jurisdictional precondition was not satisfied. The defect went to the root of the assumption of jurisdiction for reassessment.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148 was invalid and was quashed, and the consequent reassessment order under section 147 did not survive. The assessee succeeded on the legal challenge to the reassessment proceedings.

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