https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=789049 Prior approval under Section 148B is a statutory safeguard requiring the approving authority to independently examine the draft assessment order and relevant material before consent is granted. Where the approval is brief, non-speaking and does not disclose meaningful scrutiny of the proposed additions, it is mechanical and the resulting assessment is vitiated. On the facts, the Tribunal found the approval to be a rubber-stamp exercise without independent application of mind, so the assessment order was unsustainable in law and was quashed. The additional ground was allowed, and the merits of the additions were not examined as they became academic. en-us Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0530 Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:50:47 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=789049 Prior approval under Section 148B is a statutory safeguard requiring the approving authority to independently examine the draft assessment order and relevant material before consent is granted. Where the approval is brief, non-speaking and does not disclose meaningful scrutiny of the proposed additions, it is mechanical and the resulting assessment is vitiated. On the facts, the Tribunal found the approval to be a rubber-stamp exercise without independent application of mind, so the assessment order was unsustainable in law and was quashed. The additional ground was allowed, and the merits of the additions were not examined as they became academic. Case-Laws Income Tax Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=789049