The High Court held that the Assessing Officer could not reopen...

The High Court held that the Assessing Officer could not reopen the assessment u/s 147 as the basic precondition of having "reason to believe" that income had escaped assessment was not satisfied. Despite information from the search action u/s 132, when the petitioner was assessed u/s 115JB and had paid tax at 7.5%, adding the alleged escaped income would result in an amount less than the tax already paid. Therefore, no income had actually escaped assessment. Consequently, the impugned notices u/s 148 and subsequent proceedings were unsustainable, and the decision was in favor of the assessee.

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