2023 (6) TMI 1293

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....section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('the Act') relevant to the assessment year 2016-17 primarily on the ground that the same was issued in the name of Times Infotainment Media Ltd. which is a non-existent entity. 2. Briefly stated the material facts are as under : The case set up by the petitioner is that Times Infotainment Media Ltd. ("TIML") was a wholly owned subsidiary of the petitioner, i.e., Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd., which was engaged inter-alia in the business of Private FM Radio Broadcasting investment and intellectual property rights (IPR) activities. It is stated that with a view to consolidate the business of operations of the group companies and on account of various commercial reasons, a scheme of amalg....

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....ground that the income has escaped assessment within the meaning of section 147 of the Act. In response to the said notice, the petitioner is stated to have fled its objections as also brought to the notice of the Assessing Officer regarding the factum of amalgamation of TIML with the petitioner-company despite which the Assessing Officer continued with the proceedings and issued notice under section 142(1) of the Act directing the petitioner to furnish the accounts, documents and information mentioned in the said notices. 5. It is in the backdrop of the aforementioned facts that learned counsel for the petitioner urged that the issuance of notice the impugned under section 148 against a non-existent entity was non-est and void ab-initio....

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....aswati Industrial Syndicate Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Income Tax 186 ITR 278 (SC) as also in the case of Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi Vs. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. [2019] 107 taxmann.com 375 (SC) which held as under: "33. In the present case, despite the fact that the Assessing Officer was informed of the amalgamating company having ceased to exist as a result of the approved scheme of amalgamation, the jurisdictional notice was issued only in its name. The basis on which jurisdiction was invoked was fundamentally at odds with the legal principle that the amalgamating entity ceases to exist upon the approved scheme of amalgamation. Participation in the proceedings by the appellant in the circumstances cannot operat....