TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (2) TMI 715
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....easoned order on the basis of the documentary evidences filed by the assessee and the remand report of the AO as well as on the basis of the various case laws mentioned in the impugned order. Ld. Sr. DR further stated that the reasons recorded and satisfaction / approval accorded is within the meaning of section 151 of the Act and need not to be quashed. In view of above, she requested that the appeal filed by the assessee may be dismissed. 4. I have heard both the parties and perused the orders passed by the revenue authorities, especially the impugned order passed by the Ld. CIT(A). At the time of hearing, Ld. Counsel for the assessee draw my attention towards page no. 3 of the impugned order and the contention raised by the assessee before the Ld. CIT(A). For the sake of convenience, on the issue of approval u/s. 151 of the Act before issuing the notice u/s. 148 of the Act and the contention of the assesee and the decision thereof is reproduced as under:- "4. DECISION: The contention of the Appellant has been considered and the order of AO has also been perused. 4.1 The appellant has objected to the initiation of 147 proceedings in this case on the ground that there was no ....
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....05.2015 assessee filed a reply in response to natice u/s 148 stating that "his return pled on 30.09.2008 may be treated as his return in response to notice u/s 148 issued to the assessee." In the said reply assessee nowhere asked for any information regarding copy of reasons recorded or investigation department record pertaining to his case. However only on 12.01.2016 assessee requested to provide copy of reasons recorded and the same was provided to assessee by the AO on 12.01.2016 itself. Further, it is submitted that the AO issued a show cause notice to the assessee regarding proposed addition of Rs. 26,00,000/- paid by the assessee as capitation/donation fee to M/s Santosh Group of Institution/ Maharoji Educational Trust. In response to the said show cause notice assessee filed a reply dated 29.02.2016, in which he pleaded that he never paid any capitation feel Donation to M/s Santosh Medical College or any of it's allied in reference to the admission of his son Mr. Deepak Sakuja to the post of MDS Orthodontics during the F.Y. 2008-09. In the same reply assessee also stated many reasons in support of his claim that mere the statement of Dr. P. Mahalingam (Chairman and....
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..... Santosh Medical College & Santosh Dental College. However, in post search proceedings, Dr. P Mahalingam on 20/08/2016 submitted a consolidated list showing student-wise and course-wise contributions received as culled out from such material for each financial year. In the same submission he also accepted to have unaccounted contributions received at an aggregate amount of Rs. 159.34 crores from F. Y. 2004-05 to 2013-14, In the annexure of same submission the name of Dr. Deepok Sakuja is mentioned at 51. No, 9 of chart pertaining to F. Y. 2007-08. In sl. No 9 it is mentioned that cash receipt of Rs. 20,75,000/- on 23 Apr 2007 and page reference no, SG-2/A-59/P.9 (Copy of the same is attached herewith as an enclosure to this letter). Therefore, from the assessment order and the remand report, it is apparent that specific information has been received by the investigation wing in the case of the appellant that the documents are seized as a result of search and seizure operation conducted in the case of Santosh Medical College where a register has been seized having the details of regular fee and the capitation fee paid by the students /parents/ guardians which is partly not disc....
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.... v. DCIT 117 Taxmann 12 Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has held that "After 1-4-1989 the position is somewhat different. Section 147 with effect from 1-4-1989 provides. that where the Assessing Officer has reasons to believe that any income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for any assessment year, he may apply the provisions of sections 148 to 153. He may assess or reassess the income which has escaped assessment. It is to be noted that section 147 as it stands with effect from 1-4-1989 not only merges clauses (a) and (b) of the pre-amended section 147 but also brings about a significant change in the preliminary requirement of certain conditions mandatory in character before reassessment proceedings should De initiated in the pre-amended section- Conditions precedent for initiation of action under section 147(a) or 147(b) of the pre-amended section are highlighted above. The amended provisions are contextually different and the cumulative conditions spelt out in clause (a) or (b ) of section 147 prior to its amendment, are not present in the amended provision. The only condition for action is that Assessing Officer Should have reason to believe that income has escaped a....
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.... Officer. On the basis of the above, the objection raised by the appellant regarding the initiation of reassessment proceedings u/s 147 deserves to be rejected. 4.2 Another objection raised by the appellant in the written submission is that this assessment should have been made by the Assessing Officer under section 153C of the Act and not under section 148 of the Act. The objection of the appellant raised in the written submission has been considered on the basis of the material available on record and not found acceptable as per the discussion below:- In this regard, it is relevant to reproduce the provisions of section 153C which has undergone changes .and the relevant provision during the year is as under:- "Notwithstanding anything contained in section 139, section 147, section 148, section 149, section 151 and 'section 153, where the Assessing Officer is satisfied that any money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing or books of account or documents seized or requisitioned belongs or belong to a person other than the person referred to in section 153A; then the books of account or documents or assets seized or requisitioned shall be handed over to ....
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....se or mention of the word 'satisfaction' or the word I am satisfied in the order or the note would not meet the requirement of the concept of the satisfaction as used in section 153C of the said Act. The satisfaction note itself must display the reasons or basis for the conclusion that the Assessing Officer of the searched person is satisfied that the seized documents belong to a person other than the searched person. Going through the contents of the satisfaction note, any 'satisfaction' of the kind required under section 153C of the said Act could not be discerned. [Para 11 ] This being the position the very first step prior to the issuance of a notice under section lS3C has not been fulfilled. Inasmuch as this condition precedent has not been met, the notices under section 153C are liable to be quashed. [Para 12]" In the case of ACIT vs. Pepsi Foods (P.) Ltd. 89 taxmann.com 10 Hon'ble Supereme Court of India has held that "SLP dismissed against High Court ruling that before issue of notice under section 153C, Assessing Officer is required to arrive at a conclusive satisfaction that documents belongs to a person other than searched person." Similar view....
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.... the reasons on reopening of assessment proceedings, hence, the same is illegal and bad in law and reassessment proceedings are liable to be quashed on this ground only. Even otherwise, during the course of appellate proceedings, the assessee has raised this issue before the Ld. CIT(A) and the Ld. CIT(A) has called for the remand report from the Assessing Officer and the Assessing Officer in his remand report claimed that the date i.e. 30.3.2015 mentioned in the reasons merely a typographical error. Copy of the remand report is placed at page no. 99-106 of the Paper Book. After perusing the same, I am of the view that the AO is factually incorrect as the AO directed the Assessee to furnish the information called for u/s. 133(6) of the Act by 27.3.2015 as evident from the 3rd para of the reasons recorded which is placed at page no. 102 of the paper book and any further adverse action against the assessee could have been taken only on failure of compliance to notice u/s. 133(6) of the Act, meaning thereby the AO has completed the whole procedure necessary for issuance of notice u/s. 148 of the Act i.e. the reasons were recorded and sanction from competent authority was obtained and ....