AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (6) TMI 1283
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.... the date of submission of return of income for the assessment year 2011-2012, the appellant received an e-mail dated 18.04.2018 sent by the respondent attaching therewith a notice dated 31.03.2018 issued under section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, (in short, "the Act") in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 147 of the Act, for re-opening the assessment for the assessment year 2011-2012. Stating that the notice of the respondent dated 31.03.2018 under section 148 of the Act, received by her through e-mail on 18.04.2018 is time barred as per Section 149 of the Act, the appellant preferred the writ petition bearing No. 11399 of 2018 to quash the same. 3.Opposing the relief sought by the petitioner, the respondent filed a detailed counter affidavit, inter alia stating that the notice under section 148 of the Act for re-opening the assessment was signed on 31.03.2018 and it was given to the process server for despatch to the appellant on her last known address at No.17, Mylai Periya Thambi Street, Chennai - 600 001, on the same day, but the same was returned unserved by the process server on 06.04.2018 with an endorsement that "no such person is residing in the said addr....
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....that it could be evident from the Election Commission Identity Card, passport, Aadhar Card and latest income tax return that the appellant is residing at No.17, Mylai Periya Thambi Street, Chennai-1 and hence, the notice sent to the said address of the appellant returned unserved, was invented for the purpose of validating the notice dated 31.03.2018. Thus, according to the learned counsel, the respondent though signed the notice under section 148 on 31.03.2018, he sent the same to the appellant by e-mail only on 18.04.2018, which is beyond the period of limitation of six years from the end of the assessment year 2011-12. Without considering the same in a proper perspective, the learned Judge erred in dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellant. Therefore, the learned counsel prayed to allow this writ appeal by quashing the order of the learned Judge dated 26.04.2021 as well as the notice of the respondent dated 31.03.2018. 6.On the other hand, the learned senior panel counsel appearing for the respondent submitted that the notice under section 148 of the Act was signed and directed to be despatched on 31.03.2018 and hence, the same is well within the limitation period of ....
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....ued for the relevant assessment year - (a)if four years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year, unless the case falls under clause (b); (b)if four years, but not more than six years, have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment amounts to or is likely to amount to one lakh rupees or more for that year. Explanation - In determining income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment for the purposes of this sub-section, the provisions of Explanation 2 of section 147 shall apply as they apply for the purposes of that section. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) as to the issue of notice shall be subject to the provisions of section 151." Thus, it is clear from the above provision that the maximum time limit for issuance of notice under section 148 for reopening the assessment is six years from the end of the relevant assessment year. In the instant case, the relevant assessment year is 2011-12; the limitation of six years for initiation of reassessment proceedings expired on 31.03.2018; and notice under section 148 signed by the respondent was dated 31.03.2018. In such circ....
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....eans "actual compliance in respect to the substance essential to every reasonable object of the statute" and the court should determine whether the statute has been followed sufficiently so as to carry out the intent of the statute and accomplish the reasonable objectives for which it was passed. 33. A fiscal statute generally seeks to preserve the need to comply strictly with regulatory requirements that are important, especially when a party seeks the benefits of an exemption clause that are important. Substantial compliance with an enactment is insisted, where mandatory and direct recruitment requirements are lumped together, for in such a case, if mandatory requirements are complied with, it will be proper to say that the enactment has been substantially complied with notwithstanding the non- compliance of directory requirements. In cases where substantial compliance has been found, there has been actual compliance with the statute, albeit procedurally faulty. The doctrine of substantial compliance seeks to preserve the need to comply strictly with the conditions or requirements that are important to invoke a tax or duty exemption and forgive non-compliance for either unimpor....
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....n Black's Law Dictionary to mean "To send forth; to emit; to promulgate; as, an officer issues orders, process issues from court. To put into circulation; as, the treasury issues notes. To send out, to send out officially; to deliver, for use, or authoritatively; to go forth as authoritative or binding. When used with reference to writs, process, and the like, the term is ordinarily construed as importing delivery to the proper persons, or to the proper officer for service etc, 15.1 In P. Ramanathan Aiyer's Law Lexicon the word 'issue' has been defined as follows:- "Issue. As a noun, the act of sending or causing to go forth; a moving out of any enclosed place; egress; the act of passing out; exit, egress or passage out (Worcester Dict.); the ultimate result or end. As a verb, "To issue" means to send out, to send out officially; to send forth; to put forth; to deliver, for use, or unauthoritatively; to put into circulation; to emit; to go out (Burrill); to go forth as a authoritative or binding, to proceed or arise from; to proceed as from a source (Century Dict.) Issue or process: Going out of the hands of the clerk, expressed or implied, to be delivered t....