AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (9) TMI 478
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.... Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act, 1961') and the reassessment orders passed under Section 147/148 of the Act, 1961. 3. Since common questions of law on similar set of facts are involved in this batch of writ petitions, therefore, with the consent of learned counsels for the parties, the Writ Tax No.554 of 2022 have been heard as a leading writ petition and facts of this case are being noted. 4. In the above noted writ petitions, the following reliefs have been sought by the petitioners: "WRIT TAX No. 554/22 (I) Issue a writ, or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the impugned notice u/s 148 of the Act, dated 31.03.2021, issued by respondent no.3, for A.Y. 2013-14. (Annexure No. 4). (ii) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Prohibition thereby restraining Respondent No. 3 from undertaking further reassessment proceedings pending before him against the Petitioner, for A.Y. 2013-14 in pursuance of notice u/s 148 of the Act, dated 31.03.2021. (iii) Issue any other writ order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. (iv) Award the costs....
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....a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus restraining the respondents from taking any coercive steps pursuant to the show cause notice dated 31.03.2022 issued by the respondent no. 3 u/s 274 read with Section 271(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to the petitioner (Annexure-22 to the writ petition). WRIT TAX No. - 427 of 2022 (a) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the notice dated 16.02.2022 (Annexure-1 to the writ petition) issued by the Respondent No. 1 disposing of the objections raised by the petitioner against the issuance of notice dated 31.03.2021 under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act for the Assessment Year 2014-15; (b) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the notice dated 25.11.2021 (Annexure-3 to the writ petition) issued by the Income Tax Department under Section 143(2) read with Section 147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961; (c) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the notice dated 31.03.2021 (served on 01.04.2021) (Annexure-2 to the writ petition) issued by the Income Tax Officer, Ward-2(3) (1), Kanpur Nagar under Section 148 o....
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....2021. (III) Issue any other writ order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. (iv) Award the costs of the petition to the petitioner. (v) Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Certiorari to quash the Assessment Order dated 31.03.2022 passed by Respondent No.4 (Annexure 11) being in consequence of the proceedings which is without jurisdiction and without giving an effective opportunity of being heard. (vi) Issue writ order or direction in nature of mandamus directing Respondent Nos.3 & 4 not to proceed further towards the recovery of demand created in consequence of the assessment order dated 31.03.2022 (Annexure -11)/ not treat the Petitioner as assessee in default, during the the present writ petition. WRIT TAX No. - 642 of 2022 A. issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned notice issued under section 148 of income tax act dt. 31.03.2021 and order disposing off objections dt. 26.03.2022, as also the sanction authorising the issuance of such notice for a.y. 2013-14. B Issue a writ, order or direction in the n....
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.....03.2021 at 07:05 P.M., i.e. 19:05 hours by digitally signing the approval. Jurisdictional notice under Section 148 of the Act, 1961 was digitally signed by the respondent No.3/ Assessing officer on 31.03.2021 at 05:43 P.M., i.e. 17:43 hours, which is prior to the grant of digitally signed approval by the PCIT under Section 151 of the Act, 1961. As per Section 151 of the Act, 1961, as stood at the relevant time no notice shall be issued by the Assessing Officer after expiry of four years from the end of the Assessment Year unless the Principal Chief Commissioner/ PCIT is satisfied on the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer that it is a fit case for issuing such notice. 7. In Writ Tax No. 370 of 2022 the impugned notice under section 148 of the Act, 1961 relating to the assessment year 2015-16 was issued on 31.3.2021 at 6.33 p.m. whereas the satisfaction under section 151 was recorded by the PCIT subsequently at 7.15 p.m. on the same day. In Writ Tax No. 427 of 2022 the impugned notice under section 148 of the Act, 1961 relating to the assessment year 2014-15 was issued on 31.3.2021 at 3.32 p.m. whereas the satisfaction under section 151 was recorded by the PCIT subsequentl....
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....risdiction and thus invalid. Consequently, the subsequent proceedings including reassessment orders are also without jurisdiction. Section 282A of the Act, 1961 has no relevance with respect to the recording of satisfaction or prior permission by the PCIT under Section 151 of the Act, 1961. Submissions on behalf of the respondents:- 10. Learned Additional Solicitor General of India has submitted that the unsigned satisfaction of the PCIT stands validated in view of Section 282A of the Act, 1961 inasmuch as the digital or physical unsigned satisfaction recorded by the PCIT shall be deemed to be authenticated under Section 282A of the Act, 1961 read with Rule 127A of the Income Tax Rules, 1962 and Sections 2(d), 2(p) and 2(t) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 inasmuch as satisfaction bears the name and office of a designated income tax authority, i.e. PCIT. He submits that the moment the PCIT has pushed in "Generate Tap in ITBA System" his satisfaction under Section 151 of the Act, 1961, would be deemed to be an authenticated document in terms of Section 282A and thus is a valid satisfaction under Section 151 of the Act, 1961. The digital signature affixed by the PCIT on ....
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....ed under section 139 : Provided that in a case- (a) where a return has been furnished during the period commencing on the 1st day of October, 1991 and ending on the 30th day of September, 2005 in response to a notice served under this section, and (b) subsequently a notice has been served under sub-section (2) of section 143 after the expiry of twelve months specified in the proviso to sub-section (2) of section 143, as it stood immediately before the amendment of said sub11 section by the Finance Act, 2002 (20 of 2002) but before the expiry of the time limit for making the assessment, re-assessment or recomputation as specified in sub-section (2) of section 153, every such notice referred to in this clause shall be deemed to be a valid notice: Provided further that in a case- (a) where a return has been furnished during the period commencing on the 1st day of October, 1991 and ending on the 30th day of September, 2005, in response to a notice served under this section, and (b) subsequently a notice has been served under clause (ii) of sub-section (2) of section 143 after the expiry of twelve months specified in the proviso to c....
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....income-tax authority is printed, stamped or otherwise written thereon. (3) For the purposes of this section, a designated income-tax authority shall mean any income-tax authority authorised by the Board to issue, serve or give such notice or other document after authentication in the manner as provided in sub-section (2). B. Income Tax Rules, 1962:- Authentication of notices and other documents. Rule 127A. (1) Every notice or other document communicated in electronic form by an income-tax authority under the Act shall be deemed to be authenticated,- (a) in case of electronic mail or electronic mail message (hereinafter referred to as the e-mail), if the name and office of such income-tax authority- (i) is printed on the e-mail body, if the notice or other document is in the e-mail body itself; or (ii) is printed on the attachment to the e-mail, if the notice or other document is in the attachment, and the e-mail is issued from the designated e-mail address of such income-tax authority; (b) in case of an electronic record, if the name and office of the income-tax authority- (i) is displayed as a part of the e....
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....Notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 was digitally signed by the respondent no.3 on 31.03.2021 at 5:43 P.M. i.e. 17:43 hours, which is prior to the satisfaction recorded by the PCIT. Section 151 of the Act, 1961 as stood at the relevant time provides that no notice shall be issued under section 148 of the Act by Assessing Officer after expiry of period of 4 years from the end of assessment year unless Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner is satisfied, on the reason recorded by the assessing officer that it is a fit case for issuing such notice. 13. Thus, as per provision of Section 151 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, an assessing officer gets jurisdiction to issue notice to an assessee under Section 148 of the Act, 1961 after Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Income Tax is satisfied on the reason recorded by the assessing officer that it is a fit case for issuing such notice. The date and time of the approval granted digitally under Section 151 of the Act and the date and time of the notice under section 148 of the Act, shows that the satisfaction wa....
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.... 19. In the case of Maharaja Sir Pateshwari Prasad Singh vs. State of U.P. (1963) 50 ITR 731, three judges bench of Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the word "and" should normally be given its ordinary meaning and should be understood in conjunctive sense. Thus, as per provisions of sub-Section (1) of Section 282A, the notice or other document shall be signed and thereafter it shall be issued in paper form or may be communicated in electronic form then the document or notice so issued or communicated, shall be deemed to be an authenticated notice or document in terms of Rule 127A of the Rules, 1962. Signed - Meaning:- 20. The word "signed" has not been defined under the Act, 1961, which is a central Act. However, it has been defined in Section 3(56) of the General Clauses Act, 1897, as under: "3(56) "sign", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, shall, with reference to a person who is unable to write his name, include "mark", with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions;" 21. As per Webster's New World Dictionary, the word 'sign' means 'to write one's name on, as in acknowledging authorship, authorising action etc.' In Rattan Anmol S....
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....) Ltd. (2021) 7 SCC 657 (paras 25 and 26), Hon'ble Supreme Court observed that the words 'shall be signed', makes signing mandatory for authentication and held as under: "Legal requirement of signing the award 25. The legal requirement of signing the arbitral award by a sole arbitrator, or the members of a tribunal is found in Section 31 of the 1996 Act, which provides the form and content of an arbitral award. Section 31 provides that : "31. Form and contents of arbitral award.- (1) An arbitral award shall be made in writing and shall be signed by the members of the arbitral tribunal. (2) For the purposes of sub-section (1), in arbitral proceedings with more than one arbitrator, the signatures of the majority of all the members of the arbitral tribunal shall be sufficient so long as the reason for any omitted signature is stated. ......... .... ............. (4) The arbitral award shall state its date and the place of arbitration as determined in accordance with section 20 and the award shall be deemed to have been made at that place. (5) After the arbitral award is made, a signed copy shall be delivered to each party.....
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....y result if the interpretation proposed by the department were to be accepted, the Court should follow the common law rule mentioned above. In the result, the High Court answered the point of law referred to them in the affirmative. 19. There is no doubt that the true rule as laid down in judicial decisions and indeed, as recognised by the High Court in the case before us, is that unless a particular statute expressly or by necessary implication or intendment excludes the common law rule, the latter must prevail. It is, therefore, necessary in this case to examine the Act and the rules to ascertain whether there is any indication therein that the intention of the legislature is to exclude the common law rule. 26. Turning now to the judicial decisions cited before us it will be found that Courts have insisted on personal signature even when there were not so many clear indications in the statutes under consideration in those cases as there are in the statute and the rules before us. Thus in Monks v. Jackson (1876) 1 C.P.C. 683 : (46 L.J.C.P. 162), which was a case under s.1(3), Municipal Elections Act (38 and 39 Vic. c. 40) which required delivery of the nomination....
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.... that by reason of the word "personally" occurring in R.6, Income-tax Rules framed under s.59, Income-tax Act, 1922, a duly authorised agent of a partner was precluded from signing on behalf of the partner an application under s.26-A of the Act for registration of the firm. In all these cases the common law rule was not applied, evidently because the particular statutes were held to indicate that the intention was to exclude that rule. This intention was gathered from the use of the word "himself" or "by him" or "under his hand" or "personally." It is needless to say that such an intention may also be gathered from the nature of the particular statute or inferred from the different provisions of the statute and the rules framed thereunder. As already stated, there are many indications in the Bengal Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1944, and the rules made thereunder evidencing an intention to exclude the common law rule in the matter of the signature of the assessee, appellant or applicant on the return, appeal or application." 25. Thus the expression "shall be signed" used in Section 282A(1) of the Act 1961 makes the signing of the notice or other document by that authority a manda....
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....otice under Section 148. Before issuing a notice under Section 148, the Income-tax Officer must have either reasons to believe that by reason of the omission or failure on the part of the assessee to make a return under Section 139 for any assessment year to the Income-tax Officer or to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for his assessment for that year, income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for that year or alternatively notwithstanding that there has been no omission or failure as mentioned above on the part of the assessee, the Income-tax Officer has in consequence of information in his possession reason to believe that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for any assessment year. Unless the requirements of clause (a) or (b) of Section 147 are satisfied, the Income-tax Officer has no jurisdiction to issue a notice under Section 148. From the report submitted by the Income-tax Officer to the Commissioner, it is clear that he could not have had reasons to believe that by reason of the assessee's omission to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for his assessment for the accounting year in question, income chargeable to t....
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....Tax Authority shall be signed by that authority in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed. Section 151 of the Act, 1961 specifically provides recording of satisfaction by the Prescribed Authority, on the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer that it is a fit case for the issue of notice under section 148 of the Act, 1961. Unless such satisfaction is recorded, the Assessing Officer could not get jurisdiction to issue notice under section 148. A satisfaction, to be a valid satisfaction under section 151 of the Act, 1961, has to be recorded by the Prescribed Authority under his signature on application mind and not mechanically, as also held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Chhugamal Rajpal (supra). Unless the Prescribed Authority under section 151 of the Act, 1961 records his satisfaction on application of mind and under his signature, there cannot be a valid satisfaction empowering the Assessing Officer to assume jurisdiction to issue notice under section 148 of the Act, 1961. In other words, an Assessing Officer may issue jurisdictional notice under Section 148 only after the Prescribed Authority under section 151 of the Act records his satisfaction that....