ITAT held that the approval accorded under s.153D was a...

ITAT held that the approval accorded under s.153D was a mechanical, omnibus sanction lacking any application of mind and therefore vitiated the resultant assessment orders. A single approval memo purportedly covering multiple assessment years and distinct assessees (totaling twenty-one approvals) without reference to materials reviewed or independent reasoning by the approving authority failed to satisfy statutory requisites; such rubber-stamping cannot sustain the assessments. Consequentially, the appeals by the assessees were allowed and the impugned assessment orders set aside/quashed insofar as they rested on the defective s.153D approval.