Reassessment notice issued after 1 April 2021 must follow amended section 148A procedure; non-compliance vitiates jurisdiction.

A reassessment notice issued on or after 1-4-2021 must comply with the amended reassessment regime, including the procedure under section 148A and the revised sanction requirements under section 151 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Where the notice recorded on the portal as dated 31-3-2021 was actually issued on 1-4-2021, the new statutory scheme applied. Because the mandated procedure was not followed, the reassessment suffered from a jurisdictional defect and was quashed as void ab initio.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment proceedings were valid when the notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was issued on 1-4-2021 and the procedure under section 148A and the amended provisions governing sanction and issuance was not followed.

Analysis: The notice dated 31-3-2021 was found, on the portal record, to have been issued only on 1-4-2021. Once the notice was issued on or after 1-4-2021, the amended reassessment regime applied, and the Assessing Officer was required to follow the procedure prescribed under section 148A and the amended section 151 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. As that procedure was admittedly not followed, the reassessment was held to suffer from a jurisdictional defect. Following the cited binding and coordinate-bench decisions, the reassessment made under the old regime could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The reassessment proceedings were quashed as void ab initio, and the jurisdictional challenge was decided in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is issued on or after 1-4-2021, reassessment can be undertaken only in accordance with the amended scheme, including section 148A and the corresponding sanction requirements; failure to follow that mandatory procedure vitiates the reassessment for want of jurisdiction.

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