2022 (3) TMI 1413

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....titioner : Shri Apurv Goyal, Advocate. For the Respondents-1 to 3 : Shri Bhupendra Kumar Pandey, Advocate. For the Respondents- 4 to 6 Shri Amit Chaudhary, and Shri Ajay Kumrani, Advocates. ORDER 1. Petitioner/Company in this writ petition has challenged issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short,'IT Act') by Income Tax department on the ground mentioned therein, particularly raising ground that sanction under Section 151 of the IT Act is void, because sanction does not bear a valid digital signature as well as does not have verified DIN (Document Identification Number) and further, objections raised are decided in a very mechanical manner, without considering the same in objective manner. Hence there is....

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....ed. Hence, in the facts of the case, sanction/ approval accorded under Section 151 of the IT Act is to be treated as not granted by competent authority. Proceeding under Section 148 of the IT Act is initiated without sanction or approval hence in absence of sanction to proceeding, entire proceeding is vitiated in the eyes of law. He also submits that in para-4 of reply filed by respondent it is mentioned that when Assessing Officer forwarded the case, sanction has been granted initially manually, but as per document placed on record, it would show that sanction has been accorded on 22.02.2020. Counsel for petitioner places reliance upon judgments passed by Hon'ble Supreme Court in cases of The Assistant Commissioner of State Tax and others ....

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....ended that last submission of learned counsel for the petitioner that manual sanction was accorded on 06.02.2020 as pleaded in their reply is also not correct. 5. I have heard learned counsel for the parties. 6. Challenge in this Writ Petition is primarily with respect to initiation of proceeding under Section 148 is raised only on the ground of non-issuance of sanction order under Section 151 of IT Act by competent authority. Perusal of sanction granted by competent authority at Page-35 would reflect that it bears DIN and document number. This document specifically bears name and designation of authority according sanction/approval under Section 151 of the IT Act. Hence, in view of submission of learned counsel for the respective parties....