TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (5) TMI 1468
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....gal and without jurisdiction; b) For such further and other reliefs, including costs of this Petition, as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the nature and circumstances of the case. 2. Undisputedly, and as would be evident from a reading of the Satisfaction Note pertaining to the non-searched entity, namely the petitioner, the material which is alluded to pertains to Assessment Year ["AY"] 2019-20 only. Action under Section 153C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ["Act"], however, sought to encompass AYs 2014-15 to 2020-21. Insofar as AYs other than AY 2019-20 are concerned the impugned action would clearly not sustain bearing in mind the judgment rendered by the Court in Saksham Commodities Limited vs. Income Tax Officer, Ward 22(1), Delhi & Anr [2024 SCC OnLine Del 2551] and where while explaining the statutory imperatives of incriminating material we had held as follows: "63. On an overall consideration of the structure of Sections 153A and 153C, we thus find that a reopening or abatement would be triggered only upon the discovery of material which is likely to "have a bearing on the determination of the total income" and would have to be examined beari....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ing into its possession is likely to "have a bearing on the determination of the total income" that a notice under Section 153C would be issued. Abatement would thus be a necessary corollary of that notice. However, both the issuance of notice as well as abatement would have to necessarily be preceded by the satisfaction spoken of above being reached by the jurisdictional AO of the non-searched entity. 66. Therefore, and in our opinion, abatement of the six AYs' or the "relevant assessment year" would follow the formation of that opinion and satisfaction in that respect being reached. 67. On an overall consideration of the aforesaid, we come to the firm conclusion that the "incriminating material" which is spoken of would have to be identified with respect to the AY to which it relates or may be likely to impact before the initiation of proceedings under Section 153C of the Act. A material, document or asset recovered in the course of a search or on the basis of a requisition made would justify abatement of only those pending assessments or reopening of such concluded assessments to which alone it relates or is likely to have a bearing on the estimation of inc....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ator who had done siphoning off of funds in earlier EPC contracts of HP group also raised suspicion with respect to the EPC Contract awarded by the group to M/s DNC Infrastructure Private Limited. * It is relevant to mention here that investigations were also carried out in the case of DNC by the Hyderabad Zonal Unit of the Directorate General of Goods and Service Tax Intelligence (regarding DNC). The incident report No. 116/2019-20-GST dated 25.10.2019 filed by the Unit revealed that DNC was involved in wrongful claim of Input Tax Credit as it is was without receipt of commensurate material or services. The relevant extract of their incident report is being reproduced below : * In his statement to GST authorities, MD of the M/s DNC - Sh. Dirishala Naresh Chaudhary had accepted to wrongful availment of ITC and reversed ITC in some cases. The report of the Hyderabad Zonal Unit of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence further concluded that even the payments claimed to be made to suppliers of materials were also found to be bogus along with sub-contractors. No supply of any material had actually taken place by these suppliers. * In the wake of this ba....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....er satisfied that it is a fit case for initiating proceedings u/s 153C r.w.s.153A of the Act for the AYs 2014-15 to 2020-21." 5. In view of the aforesaid, the writ petition partly succeeds. The impugned action under Section 153C of the Act, pertaining to AYs 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2020-21 are hereby quashed and set aside. 6. However, and insofar as AY 2019-20 is concerned, the same is left untouched. All rights and contentions of respective parties are kept open to be addressed in the ongoing assessment proceedings for AY 2019-20. ============= Document 1 3. Serving of documents recovered so far from M/N DONC and their GSTR-2A returns revealed that they have received GST invoices worth Rs 293.74 Crores from fictitious Grms xuch us M/s 5 Star Infracon India Pvt Lid (GSTIN; 36AABC2028211123). M/S RSGB Enterprises (OSTIN: 36AAVFR3191A1Z1), M/s Aaria Projects Lid (OSTIN: 36AADCV7695Q127), M/s Windroot Infrabuild it Lid IGSTIN: 36AABCU9079KIZO), M/s (GSTIN: Enterprises Caxton 36AALFC2650DIZQ). M/s Allways Town (OSTIN: Lid Planners 36AAPCA0158F12R), M/s Limited (OSTIN: Uniview Infracon Private 36AAWCS6779DIZJ),....