TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (7) TMI 1043
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....the basis of the information that the appellant had consented transfer fund of Rs. 7 Lakhs from Account No. 01901160003225 to one Shri Ashokbhai B Patel having Account No. 01902320000694 of HDFC Bank Ltd. which was not reflected in the ledger account and in the books of accounts maintained by the appellant, and further that, information from AIR to this effect that the assessee deposited cash of Rs. 30,01,000/- in HDFC Bank Ltd. and Rs. 28,00,000/- in Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. and also the appellant purchased immovable property for a consideration of Rs. 1,27,00,000/- for the year under consideration, the case under scrutiny was reopened under Section 148 of the Act dated 03.05.2016 upon recording reasons. The said recording of reasons has been filed by the Ld. DR before us on 30th June, 2022. On 19.04.2016, ITO, Ward-3, Gandhinagar has recorded the reasons in the following manner: "As per information provided by the HDFC Bank Ltd during the assessment proceedings of Shri Ahokbhai B Patel, the assessee, Smt Meenaben Ashokbhai Patel had consented transfer fund of Rs. Seven lacs from a/c. No.01901160003225 to Shri Ashok B Patel a/c No.01902320000694, but the same amount is not refle....
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....t for A.Y. 2013-14 is admittedly wrong which vitiates the entire proceeding and therefore, the consequential order impugned before us is liable to be set aside. On this count, he has relied upon the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court in the case of Sagar Enterprises vs. ACIT, reported in [2002] 124 taxman 641 (Gujarat) and the judgment passed by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in case of Deepak Wadhwa vs. ACIT, reported in [2021] 435 ITR 699 (Del). On the other hand, Ld. DR relied upon the orders passed by the authorities below and vehemently argued in support of the re-assessment proceeding culminating into order of addition made by the authorities below. 5. After careful consideration of the order passed by the authorities below and the reasons so recorded by the ITO, Ward-3, Gandhinagar of escaping assessment to the extent of Rs. 2.74 Crores by the assessee as chargeable to tax mainly on the basis of the fact of not filing of return for the year under consideration by the appellant seems to be absolutely wrong in view of the mentioning filing of return by the assessee on 10.01.2015 much prior to the recording of reasons by the ITO, Ward-3, Gandhinagar dated 1....
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.... initiate and continue action under section 147 of the Act. 4. On going through the entire reasons recorded, it can be seen that in the penultimate paragraph, the respondent has further recorded as under: "Further, the assessee was required to file the return of the income for assessment year 1991-92 which the assessee has failed. Morever, it was the duty of the assessee to declare this transaction and to file the return of income for assessment year 1991-92. The assessee has failed on both these counts. Therefore, the escapement of assessment of income is solely attributable to the assessee. Therefore, it is apparent that the factor of non-filing of the return for the assessment year 1991-92 has overbearingly weighed with the respondent for arriving at the satisfaction about the failure on the part of the assessee and escapement of assessment of income. On the basis of the same, even for the sake of argument, if the contention raised by Mr. Joshi is taken into consideration, the settled legal position is that in such circumstances, it would not be possible to say with certainty as to which factor would have weighed with the officer concerned and once it is shown that an irre....
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....s concerned, which is that, notice under section 148 of the Act was issued after obtaining the requisite administrative approval, we are not satisfied with the explanation given in the counter-affidavit (if it all, it can be called, as ant explanation) as no attempt has been made to explain what is stated in paragraph 1 of the impugned order dated September 28, 2018. 5.1. For the sake of convenience, paragraph 1 of the letter dated September 28, 2018 and the averment made in paragraphs 27-28 of the counter affidavit is extracted hereafter. When one compares the two, the lack of explanation is writ large. No attempt has been made to place on record the extract of the relevant file noting setting out the approval. Letter dated September 28, 2018 "1. The case of the assessee for the assessment year 2011-12 was reopened under section 147/148 after proper recording of the following reasons for forming belief that income has escaped assessment and taking administrative approval of the Principal Commissioner of Income-tax, Delhi-11 on March 30, 2018," Counter-affidavit 27-28 The contents of paras 27 to 28 are wrong and denied. It is submitted that administrative approval of the ....