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Issues: (i) Whether the reassessment initiated for assessment year 2013-14 was invalid as the notice under section 148 was issued on or after 01.04.2021, attracting the new reassessment regime. (ii) Whether the reassessment for the remaining assessment years was invalid because the approvals under section 151 were accorded mechanically without application of mind.
Issue (i): Whether the reassessment initiated for assessment year 2013-14 was invalid as the notice under section 148 was issued on or after 01.04.2021, attracting the new reassessment regime.
Analysis: The record showed that the notice said to have been issued on 31.03.2021 was in fact issued only on 01.04.2021. That date was the commencement of the new reassessment scheme under section 148A. Since the reassessment was sought to be pursued under the old scheme despite issuance falling after the cut-off date, the reopening could not be sustained.
Conclusion: The reassessment for assessment year 2013-14 was quashed in favour of the assessee.
Issue (ii): Whether the reassessment for the remaining assessment years was invalid because the approvals under section 151 were accorded mechanically without application of mind.
Analysis: The sanction orders under section 151 were found to have been recorded mechanically. Such approval did not reflect due application of mind and therefore could not support the reopening. The later amendments in the reassessment regime also did not save those approvals because they predated the cut-off date of 01.04.2021.
Conclusion: The reassessment for the remaining assessment years was quashed in favour of the assessee.
Final Conclusion: All three reassessment proceedings were invalid and the assessee succeeded on the challenge to reopening, with the merits rendered academic.
Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment notice issued on or after the commencement of the new reassessment regime must be tested under that regime, and a reopening cannot be sustained where the statutory approval for sanction is granted mechanically without application of mind.
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