TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
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2024 (10) TMI 264
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..../2024 C.A. No. 8680/2024 C.A. No. 8679/2024 C.A. No. 8669/2024 C.A. No. 8673/2024 C.A. No. 8682/2024 C.A. No. 10242/2024 C.A. No. 8683/2024 C.A. No. 8685/2024 C.A. No. 8687/2024 C.A. No. 10244/2024 C.A. No. 8684/2024 C.A. No. 8671/2024 C.A. No. 9822/2024 C.A. No. 8689/2024 C.A. No. 10245/2024 C.A. No. 8672/2024 C.A. No. 10246/2024 C.A. No. 8670/2024 C.A. No. 8681/2024 C.A. No. 10250/2024 C.A. No. 8676/2024 C.A. No. 8686/2024 C.A. No. 8688/2024 C.A. No. 10251/2024 C.A. No. 10252/2024 C.A. No. 8695/2024 C.A. No. 8674/2024 C.A. No. 8677/2024 C.A. No. 8713/2024 C.A. No. 8692/2024 C.A. No. 8690/2024 C.A. No. 8699/2024 C.A. No. 8691/2024 C.A. No. 8704/2024 C.A. No. 10254/2024 C.A. No. 8845/2024 C.A. No. 8846/2024 C.A. No. 8696/2024 C.A. No. 8707/2024 C.A. No. 8697/2024 C.A. No. 8847/2024 C.A. No. 8706/2024 C.A. No. 8852/2024 C.A. No. 8705/2024 C.A. No. 8848/2024 C.A. No. 8709/2024 C.A. No. 8708/2024 C.A. No. 8703/2024 C.A. No. 8849/2024 C.A. No. 8630/2024 C.A. No. 8656/2024 C.A. No. 8665/2024 T.P.(C) No. 2187-2194/2024 C.A. No. 8675/2024 C.A. No. 8700/2024 C.A. No. 8969/2024 C.A. No. 8746/2024 C.A. No. 8825/2024 C.A. No. 8698/2024 C.A. No. 8693/2024 C.A. No. 8800/2024 C.A. No. 9507/2024 ....
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..... 9287/2024 C.A. No. 9296/2024 C.A. No. 9298/2024 C.A. No. 9300/2024 C.A. No. 9302/2024 C.A. No. 9304/2024 C.A. No. 8911/2024 C.A. No. 9305/2024 C.A. No. 9306/2024 C.A. No. 9311/2024 C.A. No. 9314/2024 C.A. No. 9312/2024 C.A. No. 8976/2024 C.A. No. 8994/2024 C.A. No. 8912/2024 C.A. No. 8977/2024 C.A. No. 8850/2024 C.A. No. 8978/2024 C.A. No. 8983/2024 C.A. No. 8972/2024 C.A. No. 8973/2024 C.A. No. 8974/2024 C.A. No. 8995/2024 C.A. No. 8996/2024 C.A. No. 8984/2024 C.A. No. 8985/2024 C.A. No. 8988/2024 C.A. No. 8989/2024 C.A. No. 8990/2024 C.A. No. 8999/2024 C.A. No. 8913/2024 C.A. No. 8991/2024 C.A. No. 10215/2024 C.A. No. 8992/2024 C.A. No. 9001/2024 C.A. No. 9002/2024 C.A. No. 8914/2024 C.A. No. 9003/2024 C.A. No. 8993/2024 C.A. No. 9005/2024 C.A. No. 9006/2024 C.A. No. 8635/2024 C.A. No. 10984 /2024 (Arising out of SLP(C) No. 23391/2024) (Diary No 24653/2023) C.A. No. 9261/2024 C.A. No. 9273/2024 C.A. No. 9038/2024 C.A. No. 8997/2024 C.A. No. 9000/2024 C.A. No. 9039/2024 C.A. No. 9008/2024 C.A. No. 9009/2024 C.A. No. 9010/2024 C.A. No. 9025/2024 C.A. No. 9027/2024 C.A. No. 9004/2024 C.A. No. 9011/2024 C.A. No. 8915/2024 C.A. No. 9012/2024 C.A. No. 9041/2024 C.A. No. 9289/2024 C.A....
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....9799/2024 C.A. No. 9321/2024 C.A. No. 9322/2024 C.A. No. 9366/2024 C.A. No. 9349/2024 C.A. No. 9351/2024 C.A. No. 9323/2024 C.A. No. 9374/2024 C.A. No. 9324/2024 C.A. No. 9375/2024 C.A. No. 9376/2024 C.A. No. 9378/2024 C.A. No. 9805/2024 C.A. No. 9325/2024 C.A. No. 9329/2024 C.A. No. 9352/2024 C.A. No. 9488/2024 C.A. No. 9573/2024 C.A. No. 9576/2024 C.A. No. 9574/2024 C.A. No. 9354/2024 C.A. No. 9380/2024 C.A. No. 9473/2024 C.A. No. 9581/2024 C.A. No. 9474/2024 C.A. No. 9586/2024 C.A. No. 9496/2024 C.A. No. 9497/2024 C.A. No. 9381/2024 C.A. No. 9359/2024 C.A. No. 9360/2024 C.A. No. 9499/2024 C.A. No. 9489/2024 C.A. No. 9495/2024 C.A. No. 9363/2024 C.A. No. 9575/2024 C.A. No. 9502/2024 C.A. No. 9583/2024 C.A. No. 9342/2024 C.A. No. 9341/2024 C.A. No. 9411/2024 C.A. No. 9297/2024 C.A. No. 9277/2024 C.A. No. 8851/2024 C.A. No. 9529/2024 C.A. No. 9483/2024 C.A. No. 9484/2024 C.A. No. 9800/2024 C.A. No. 9431/2024 C.A. No. 9485/2024 C.A. No. 9567/2024 C.A. No. 9432/2024 C.A. No. 9804/2024 C.A. No. 9802/2024 C.A. No. 9556/2024 C.A. No. 9487/2024 C.A. No. 9490/2024 C.A. No. 9379/2024 C.A. No. 8807/2024 C.A. No. 9433/2024 C.A. No. 9584/2024 C.A. No. 9634/2024 C.A. No. 9578/2024 C.A. No. 958....
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..../2024 C.A. No. 8945/2024 C.A. No. 8813/2024 C.A. No. 9339/2024 C.A. No. 9464/2024 C.A. No. 9565/2024 C.A. No. 8817/2024 C.A. No. 9524/2024 C.A. No. 9310/2024 C.A. No. 9553/2024 C.A. No. 9343/2024 C.A. No. 8835/2024 C.A. No. 9313/2024 C.A. No. 9357/2024 C.A. No. 9372/2024 C.A. No. 8933/2024 C.A. No. 9554/2024 C.A. No. 8812/2024 C.A. No. 9525/2024 C.A. No. 8815/2024 C.A. No. 9320/2024 C.A. No. 9442/2024 C.A. No. 9466/2024 C.A. No. 9526/2024 C.A. No. 9439/2024 C.A. No. 9926/2024 C.A. No. 9555/2024 C.A. No. 9527/2024 C.A. No. 8935/2024 C.A. No. 9385/2024 C.A. No. 9528/2024 C.A. No. 8816/2024 C.A. No. 8936/2024 C.A. No. 8839/2024 C.A. No. 9572/2024 C.A. No. 9440/2024 C.A. No. 9344/2024 C.A. No. 9566/2024 C.A. No. 9237/2024 C.A. No. 9242/2024 C.A. No. 8633/2024 C.A. No. 8657/2024 C.A. No. 9251/2024 C.A. No. 9569/2024 C.A. No. 9307/2024 C.A. No. 9570/2024 C.A. No. 9577/2024 C.A. No. 10293/2024 C.A. No. 9435/2024 C.A. No. 9403/2024 C.A. No. 8834/2024 C.A. No. 9382/2024 C.A. No. 9579/2024 C.A. No. 9318/2024 C.A. No. 9580/2024 C.A. No. 9315/2024 C.A. No. 9326/2024 C.A. No. 9405/2024 C.A. No. 9591/2024 C.A. No. 9406/2024 C.A. No. 9593/2024 C.A. No. 9582/2024 C.A. No. 9587/2024 C.A. No. 9594/2....
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....Ms. Pallavi Pratap, AOR Mr. Harish Pandey, AOR Mrs. Vanita Bhargava, Adv. Mr. Ajay Bhargava, Adv. Ms. Nandita Chauhan, Adv. Ms. Tijil Thakur, Adv. M/S. Khaitan & Co., AOR Mr. R. K. Patel, Sr. Adv. Mr. Saurabh Soparkar, Sr. Adv. Mr. Malak Manish Bhatt, AOR Mr. Dhinal Shah, Adv. Mr. Darshan Patel, Adv. Mr. Bandish Soparkar, Adv. Ms. Samridhi, Adv. Ms. Sukanya Joshi, Adv. Mr. Arjun Garg, AOR Ms. Sagun Srivastava, Adv. Ms. Kriti Gupta, Adv. Mr. Deepak Prakash, AOR Mr. Merusagar Samantaray, AOR Mr. Mohit Balani, Adv. Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, AOR Mr. Sudhanshu Kaushesh, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kaushik, AOR Mr. Devendra Singh, AOR Mr. Ankit Anandraj Shah, AOR Mr. Niraj Gupta, AOR Mrs. Anshu Gupta, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Jain, Adv. Dr. K. Shivaram, Sr. Adv. Mr. Manish Paliwal, AOR Mr. Rahul Hakani, Adv. Mr. Shashi Bekal, Adv. Ms. Niyati Mankad, Adv. Ms. Neelam Jadhav, Adv. Mr. Rohit Singh, AOR Mr. Kartik Kurmy, Adv. Mr. Ashok Anand, AOR Mr. S. K. Verma, AOR Ms. Rutuja N Pawar, Adv. Ms. Hetal Laghave, Adv. Ms. Sneha More, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Upadhyay, Adv. Ms. Hardikaa Kalia, Adv. Ms. Tavishi Jain, Adv. Mr. Vikas Verma, Adv. Mr. Suryanarayana Singh, Sr. Adv. Ms. Pragati Neekhra, AOR Mr. Aditya Bhanu Neekhra,....
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....Sr. Adv. Mr. Sukhsagar Syal, Adv. Mr. C. George Thomas, AOR Mr. Ansh Mittal, Adv. Mr. Amar Dave, Sr. Adv. Mr. P. S. Sudheer, AOR Mr. Rishi Maheshwari, Adv. Ms. Anne Mathew, Adv. Mr. Bharat Sood, Adv. Ms. Miranda Solaman, Adv. Mr. Percy Pardiwala, Sr. Adv. Mr. Kunal Verma, AOR Mr. Shivraj Pawar, Adv. Mr. Jeet Kamdar, Adv. Mr. Anil Kumar, AOR Mr. Kaushik Choudhury, AOR Mr. Tushar Hemani, Sr. Adv. Ms. Vaibhavi Parikh, Adv. Ms. Anushree Prashit Kapadia, AOR Mr. Nitin Mehta, Adv. Ms. Ekta Kundu, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Wadhwa, Adv. Mr. Chand Qureshi, AOR Ms. Priyanshi Agrawal, Adv. Mr. Keshav Dev, Adv. Mrs. Arpana Soni, Adv. Mr. B. K. Satija, AOR Mr. Venketesh Chaurasia, Adv. Ms. Rano Jain, Adv. Dr. Parbodh Malhotra, Adv. Mrs. Renu Arora, Adv. Mr. Jay Kishor Singh, AOR M/S. Vachher And Agrud, AOR Mr. Salil Kapoor, Adv. Ms. Ananya Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Sanat Kapoor, Adv. Mr. Sumit Lalchandani, Adv. Mr. Ravi Kumar, Adv. Mr. Praveen Swarup, AOR Mr. Arvind Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aditya Singh, AOR Mr. Shubham Singh, Adv. Mr. Kamal Kishor, Adv. Mr. Kedar Nath Tripathy, AOR Mr. Aditya Narayan Tripathy, Adv. Mr. Percy Pardiwala, Sr. Adv. Ms. Praveena Gautam, AOR Mr. Jeet Kamdar, Adv. Mr. Pawan Shukla, Adv. Ms. Aka....
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........................................................................ 82 iii. Sanction of the specified authority .............................................................. 86 F. Section 148 notices issued in June-September 2022 ..................................... 91 i. Scope of Article 142 ....................................................................................... 91 ii. The scope of Ashish Agarwal extended to all the reassessment notices issued between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 under the old regime ...... 96 iii. Effect of the legal fiction ................................................................................ 99 a. Third proviso to Section 149 ....................................................................... 100 b. Interplay of Ashish Agarwal with TOLA ....................................................... 107 G. Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 110 1. The present batch of appeals involves the interplay of three Parliamentary statutes: the Income Tax Act 19611, the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act 2020,2 and t....
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....urt in GKN Driveshafts (India) Ltd v. Income Tax Officer,13 the assessing officer was also required to furnish reasons for reopening assessments and give an opportunity of hearing to the assessee. 5. The Revenue had to follow the following procedure for reopening assessment under the old regime: (i) Section 147 allowed the assessing officer to reassess any income chargeable to tax if the officer had "reasons to believe" that such income escaped assessment; (ii) The assessing officer had to ensure that the notice under Section 148 was issued within the time limits prescribed under Section 149; (iii) The assessing officer had to obtain the sanction of the specified authority under Section 151 before issuing a reassessment notice; (iv) The assessing officer had to grant an opportunity of hearing to the assessee in terms of GKN Driveshafts (supra); and (v) The assessing officer was thereafter empowered to issue a notice of reassessment under Section 148. ii. TOLA 6. On 24 March 2020, the Central Government announced "a complete lockdown for the entire nation" for twenty-one days to contain the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.14 Following this, the Central Government sough....
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.... following notifications to extend the period of relaxation till 30 June 2021: a. Notification No. 93 of 2020 dated 31 December 2020 extended the end date to 30 March 2021. Resultantly, TOLA covered the period between 20 March 2020 to 30 March 2021; b. Notification No. 20 of 2021 dated 31 March 2021 specified that 31 April 2021 shall be the end date of the time period covered by TOLA. It extended the time limit for completion or compliance of actions under the Income Tax Act till 30 April 2021; and c. Notification No. 38 of 2021 dated 27 April 2021 extended the time limit for completion or compliance of actions till 30 June 2021. 9. The effect of TOLA and the notifications issued under the legislation was that: (i) if the time prescribed for passing of any order or issuance of any notice, sanction, or approval fell for completion or compliance from 20 March 2020 to 31 March 2021; and (ii) if the completion or compliance of such action could not be made during the stipulated period, then the time limit for completion or compliance of such action was extended to 30 June 2021. iii. Finance Act 2021 10. The Finance Act 2021 substituted the entire scheme of reassessment unde....
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....der the old regime shall apply to the reassessment proceedings initiated under them.24 Thus, the notifications directed the assessing officers to apply the provisions of the old regime for reassessment notices issued after 1 April 2021. The assessing officers accordingly issued reassessment notices between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 by relying on the provisions under Section 148 of the old regime. These reassessment notices were challenged by the assesses before various High Courts.25 12. The High Courts allowed the writ petitions and quashed all the reassessment notices issued between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 under the old regime on the ground that: (i) Sections 147 to 151 stood substituted by Finance Act 2021 from 1 April 2021;26 (ii) In the absence of any saving clause, the Revenue could initiate reassessment proceedings after 1 April 2021 only in accordance with the provisions of the new regime since they were remedial, beneficial, and meant to protect the rights and interests of the assesses;27 and (iii) the Central Government could not exercise its delegated authority to "re-activate the pre-existing law."28 13. In Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal,29 this Court held....
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....in respect of each of the assessees concerned; Thereafter after following the procedure as required under Section 148-A may issue notice under Section 148 (as substituted). 28.5. All defences which may be available to the assessees including those available under Section 149 of the IT Act and all rights and contentions which may be available to the assessees concerned and Revenue under the Finance Act, 2021 and in law shall continue to be available." 14. On 11 May 2022, the Central Board of Direct Taxes issued an Instruction30 for the implementation of the decision Ashish Agarwal (supra). The Instruction "clarified" that Ashish Agarwal (supra) will apply "to all cases where extended reassessment notices have been issued [...] irrespective of the fact whether such notices have been challenged or not." Paragraph 6.1 of the Instruction stated that the reassessment notices will "travel back in time to their original date when such notices were to be issued and then new section 149 of the Act is to be applied at that point." Thus, the Instruction is based on the presumption that the notices issued under Section 148 of the new regime will travel back in time to their original dates,....
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....sessment notices were issued within the time limits prescribed under the provisions of the Income Tax Act read with the relaxations provided under TOLA. This is the primary issue that comes up for our consideration in the present batch of appeals. B. Issues 18. The present batch of appeals gives rise to the following issues: a. Whether TOLA and notifications issued under it will also apply to reassessment notices issued after 1 April 2021; and b. Whether the reassessment notices issued under Section 148 of the new regime between July and September 2022 are valid. C. Submissions 19. Mr N Venkataraman, learned Additional Solicitor General of India, made the following submissions on behalf of the Revenue: a. Parliament enacted TOLA as a free-standing legislation to provide relief and relaxation to both the assesses and the Revenue during the time of COVID- 19. TOLA seeks to relax actions and proceedings that could not be completed or complied with within the original time limits specified under the Income Tax Act; b. Section 149 of the new regime provides three crucial benefits to the assesses: (i) the four-year time limit for all situations has been reduced to three yea....
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.... as show-cause notices in terms of Section 148A(b). Thereafter, the Revenue issued notices under Section 148 of the new regime between July and August 2022. Invalidation of the Section 148 notices issued under the new regime on the ground that they were issued beyond the time limit specified under the Income Tax Act read with TOLA will completely frustrate the judicial exercise undertaken by this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra). 20. Mr Percy Pardiwalla, Mr V Sridharan, Mr Tushar Hemani, Mr Saurabh Soparkar, and Mr K Shivram, learned senior counsel, Mr Manish Shah, Mr Darshan Patel, Mr Suhrith Parthasarthy, Mr Dharan Gandhi, and Mr Ved Jain, learned counsel, made the following submissions on behalf of the respondents: a. TOLA applies only when the period of limitation expires between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021. Finance Act 2021 was enacted after TOLA. Consequently, TOLA only held the field till the new regime came into effect from 1 April 2021. The Revenue had to issue Section 148 notices in terms of the new regime without recourse to the extended timelines under TOLA; b. TOLA did not amend the erstwhile Section 149 but merely extended the specified time limits. The first ....
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....mits stipulated under the Income Tax Act read with TOLA; f. Ashish Agarwal (supra) cannot be interpreted in a manner to exclude the entire period from April 2021 to September 2022. The directions issued by this Court under Article 142 of the Constitution cannot contravene the substantive provisions contained in the Income Tax Act. Moreover, this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra) expressly left open all the defences available to the assesses under the new regime, including the defence of limitation available under Section 149; and g. TOLA is only applicable to the provisions that specify time limits. Section 151 does not prescribe any time limit for the issuance of sanctions by the specified authorities. Therefore, TOLA does not apply to Section 151. D. Legal Background i. Assessment as a quasi-judicial function 21. The power to levy tax is an essential and inherent attribute of sovereignty.31 It is an inherent attribute because the government requires funds to discharge its governmental functions.32 Taxation is also a recognised fiscal tool to achieve fiscal and social objectives.33 Although the power to levy taxes is plenary, it is subject to certain well-defined limitation....
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....pement of tax legitimately due to the State.41 25. In Province of Bombay v. Khushaldas S Advani,42 Justice S R Das (as the learned Chief Justice then was), in his concurring opinion observed that if a statutory authority has the power to perform any act that will prejudicially affect the subject, then although there are no two parties apart from the authority and the contest is between the authority proposing to do the act and the subject opposing it, the final determination of the authority will be quasijudicial provided the authority is required by the statute to act judicially. A quasi-judicial authority is under an obligation to act judicially.43 26. An assessment acquires finality on the making of an assessment order by the assessing officer.44 It creates a vested right in favour of the assessee.45 Section 2(8) of the Income Tax Act defines "assessment" to include reassessment. Reassessment is nothing but a fresh assessment.46 The effect of reopening the assessment is to vacate or set aside the order of assessment and to substitute in its place the order of reassessment.47 The procedure of reassessment of tax is quasi-judicial because it prejudicially affects the vested righ....
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....ayatullah (as the learned Chief Justice then was), writing for himself and Justice Raghubar Dayal, observed: "It must be remembered that if the Income-tax Act prescribes a period during which the tax due in any particular assessment year may be assessed, then on the expiry of that period the department cannot make an assessment. Where no period is prescribed that assessment can be completed at any time but once completed it is final. Once a final assessment has been made, it can only be reopened to rectify a mistake apparent from the record (section 35) or to reassess where there has been an escapement of assessment of income for one reason or another (section 34). Both these sections which enable reopening of back assessments provide their own periods of time for action but all these periods of time, whether for the first assessment or for rectification, or for reassessment, merely create a bar when that time passed against the machinery set up by the Income-tax Act for the assessment and levy of the tax. They do not create an exemption in favour of the assessee or grant an absolution on the expiry of the period. The liability is not enforceable but the tax may again become exig....
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....ing a notice of reassessment. Section 149 requires assessing officers to issue a notice of reassessment under Section 148 within the prescribed time limits. Further, Section 151 requires assessing officers to obtain sanction of the specified authority before issuing notice under Section 148. In Chhugamal Rajpal v. S P Chaliha, a three-Judge Bench of this Court held that Section 151 must be strictly adhered to because it contains "important safeguards."65 32. A statutory authority may lack jurisdiction if it does not fulfil the preliminary conditions laid down under the statute, which are necessary to the exercise of its jurisdiction.66 There cannot be any waiver of a statutory requirement or provision that goes to the root of the jurisdiction of assessment.67 An order passed without jurisdiction is a nullity. Any consequential order passed or action taken will also be invalid and without jurisdiction.68 Thus, the power of assessing officers to reassess is limited and based on the fulfilment of certain preconditions.69 iii. Principles of strict interpretation and workability 33. The dominant purpose in interpreting a taxing statute is to ascertain the intention of the legislatur....
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....t bring the subject within the letter of law, the subject is free no matter that such a construction may cause serious prejudice to the Revenue. In other words, though what is called equitable construction may be admissible in relation to other statutes or other provisions of a taxing statute, such a construction is not admissible in the interpretation of a charging or taxing provision of a taxing statute." 37. A statute is designed to be workable. A statutory provision must be construed in a manner to make it workable to achieve the purpose of the legislation.83 A construction that fails to achieve the manifest purpose of legislation or reduces the statutory provisions to futility should be avoided.84 The machinery provisions must be construed to effectuate the object and purpose of a statute and not defeat them. In J K Synthetics Ltd. v. CTO,85 a Constitution Bench of this Court observed: "16. It is well-known that when a statute levies a tax it does so by inserting a charging section by which a liability is created or fixed and then proceeds to provide the machinery to make the liability effective. It, therefore, provides the machinery for the assessment of the liability alr....
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....ple of harmonious construction also applies to reconcile two seemingly conflicting provisions of different statutes.92 40. A legislature often appends a non obstante clause to a provision to give it an overriding effect over provisions contained in the same statute or a separate statute.93 The purpose of incorporating a non obstante clause in a provision is to prohibit the operation and effect of all contrary provisions.94 In Chadavarkar Sita Ratna Rao v. Ashalata S Guram,95 Justice Sabyasachi Mukharji (as the learned Chief Justice then was) explained the purpose of a non obstante clause thus: "67. A clause beginning with the expression "notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or in some particular provision in the Act or in some particular Act or in any law for the time being in force, or in any contract" is more often than not appended to a section in the beginning with a view to give the enacting part of the section in case of conflict an overriding effect over the provision of the Act or the contract mentioned in the non obstante clause. It is equivalent to saying that in spite of the provision of the Act or any other Act mentioned in the non obstante clause or any co....
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.... legislation is impliedly repealed by the later legislation.101 The courts have to determine whether the legislature intended the two sets of provisions to be applied simultaneously.102 The presumption against implied repeal is based on the theory that the legislature knows the existing laws and does not intend to create any confusion by retaining two conflicting provisions or statutes.103 The test to be applied for the construction of implied repeal is whether the new or subsequent law is inconsistent with or repugnant to the old law. The inconsistency or repugnancy should clearly and manifestly reveal an intention to repeal the existing laws.104 The inconsistency or repugnancy must be such that the two statutes cannot be reconciled on reasonable construction or hypothesis. To determine whether a later statute repeals by implication an earlier statute, it is necessary to examine the scope and object of the two enactments by comparison of their provisions.105 Implied repeal should be avoided, if possible, where both the statutes can stand together.106 44. We now proceed to analyse the issues given the broad legislative and judicial background discussed above. E. Reading TOLA into....
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....ification to permit the Commissioner to revise any assessment made or order passed, provided the assessment had not been made before six years. It was held that if the legislative intention is clear and the language is unambiguous, full effect must be given to the legislative intention by reading the notification as applying not only to the incomplete assessments but also to assessments that had reached finality because of lapse of the earlier prescribed period. The principle that emanates from Biswanath Jhunjhunwalla (supra) is that the courts should give full effect to the legislative intention of granting reassessment powers to assessing officers unless the legislature, by express provision, states otherwise. 48. Notices have to be judged according to the law existing on the date the notice is issued. Section 149 of the old regime primarily provided two time limits: (i) four years for all situations and (ii) beyond four years and within six years if the income chargeable to tax which escaped assessment amounted to Rupees one lakh or more. After 1 April 2021, the time limits prescribed under the new regime came into force. The ordinary time limit of four years was reduced to th....
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....argeable to tax which escaped assessment is more than Rupees fifty lakhs. The proviso to Section 149(1)(b) limits the retrospectivity of that provision with respect to the time limits specified under Section 149(1)(b) of the old regime. 52. In Ashish Agarwal (supra), this Court held that the benefit of the new regime must be provided for the reassessment conducted for the past periods. The increase of the monetary threshold from Rupees one lakh to Rupees fifty lakh is beneficial for the assesses. Mr Venkataraman has also conceded on behalf of the Revenue that all notices issued under the new regime by invoking the six year time limit prescribed under Section 149(1)(b) of the old regime will have to be dropped if the income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment is less than Rupees fifty lakhs. 53. The position of law which can be derived based on the above discussion may be summarized thus: (i) Section 149(1) of the new regime is not prospective. It also applies to past assessment years; (ii) The time limit of four years is now reduced to three years for all situations. The Revenue can issue notices under Section 148 of the new regime only if three years or less have elap....
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....piry of the Detention Act 1950 on 1 October 1952. The learned Judge further observed: "7. The rule is that when a subsequent Act amends an earlier one in such a way as to incorporate itself, or a part of itself, into the earlier, then the earlier Act must thereafter be read and construed (except where that would lead to a repugnancy, inconsistency or absurdity) as if the altered words had been written into the earlier Act with pen and ink and the old words scored out so that thereafter there is no need to refer to the amending Act at all. [...] Bearing this in mind it will be seen that the 1950 Act remains the 1950 Act all the way through even with its subsequent amendments. Therefore, the moment the 1952 Act was passed and Section 2 came into operation, the Act of 1950 meant the 1950 Act as amended by Section 2, that is to say, the 1950 Act now due to expire on 1-10-1952." ( emphasis supplied ) The principle which emanates from Shamrao V Parulekar (supra) is that after an amendment, the legislation has to be read along with the amended provisions. 57. The legislative practice of amendment by substitution is often used by the legislatures. The process of substitution of a s....
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....ion Bench of this Court had to decide on the validity of the notices issued under Section 34 of the Income Tax Act 1922. In 1948, Section 34 of the Income Tax Act 1922 was substituted by a new provision which provided the following time limits: (i) eight years from the end of the year if there was omission or failure on the part of an assessee to make a return or disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for assessment; and (ii) four years for all other cases. Justice M Hidayatullah (as the learned Chief Justice then was), writing for himself and Justice Raghubar Dayal, observed that the substituted provision was meant to enable the reassessment of income which had escaped assessment for past periods. It was further observed that the substituted provision "meant to operate retrospectively eight years in some cases and four years in others."118 Justice A K Sarkar (as the learned Chief Justice then was) also observed that no notice could be issued under the 1948 amendment "for a year from the end of which eight years had expired."119 60. The above principles can be applied as follows to the factual situation in the present appeals: (i) The Finance Act 2021 substituted Se....
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....have extended deadlines for filing tax returns.124 63. TOLA extended the time limits for completion or compliance of certain actions under the specified Act, which fell for completion during the COVID-19 outbreak. The use of the expression "any" in Section 3(1) indicates that the relaxation applies to "all" or "every" action whose time limit falls for completion from 20 March 2020 to 31 March 2021. Section 3(1) is only concerned with the performance of actions contemplated under the provisions of the specified Acts. Consequently, the amendment or substitution of a provision under the specified Acts will not affect the application of TOLA, so long as the action contemplated under the provision falls for completion during the period specified by TOLA, that is, 20 March 2020 to 31 March 2021. 64. When enacting a statute, the legislature often endeavours to ensure that the provisions of one legislation do not conflict with provisions of another legislation.125 The purpose of the Income Tax Act is to levy tax on income and raise revenues for the functioning of the Government. On the other hand, the purpose of TOLA is to provide relaxation of the time for completion of any actions or p....
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....me Tax Act as amended by the Finance Act 2021. The substitution of Sections 147 to 151 will not affect the purpose of TOLA, which is, to provide relaxation of the time limit for completion or compliance of any actions falling for completion between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021. TOLA will continue to apply to the Income Tax Act after 1 April 2021 if any action or proceeding specified under the substituted provisions of the Income Tax Act falls for completion between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021. 68. After 1 April 2021, the Income Tax Act has to be read along with the substituted provisions. The substituted provisions apply retrospectively for past assessment years as well. On 1 April 2021, TOLA was still in existence, and the Revenue could not have ignored the application of TOLA and its notifications. Therefore, for issuing a reassessment notice under Section 148 after 1 April 2021, the Revenue would still have to look at: (i) the time limit specified under Section 149 of the new regime; and (ii) the time limit for issuance of notice as extended by TOLA and its notifications. The Revenue cannot extend the operation of the old law under TOLA, but it can certainly benefit from....
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....ll override the provisions of the Income Tax Act in case of any direct conflict or inconsistency. Section 3(1) overrides Section 149 only to the extent of relaxing the time limit for issuance of reassessment notice under Section 148. The time limit for issuance of a reassessment notices, which fall for completion between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, has been extended till 30 June 2021. However, the non obstante clause under Section 3(1) of TOLA will operate neither to extend the time limit of three years from the end of the relevant assessment year under Section 149(1)(a) of the new regime nor to extend the time limit of six years from the end of the relevant assessment years under Section 149(1)(b) of the old regime. The non obstante clause ensures that the Revenue has additional time beyond the statutory stipulated time limit to complete or comply with the formalities given the administrative difficulties that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic. iii. Sanction of the specified authority 73. Section 151 imposes a check upon the power of the Revenue to reopen assessments. The provision imposes a responsibility on the Revenue to ensure that it obtains the sanction of the speci....
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.... assessment is less than Rupees fifty lakhs: (a) a reassessment notice could be issued within three years after obtaining the prior approval of the Principal Commissioner, or Principal Director or Commissioner or Director; and (b) no notice could be issued after the expiry of three years; and (ii) If income escaping assessment is more than Rupees fifty lakhs: (a) a reassessment notice could be issued within three years after obtaining the prior approval of the Principal Commissioner, or Principal Director or Commissioner or Director; and (b) after three years after obtaining the prior approval of the Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or Chief Commissioner or Director General. 76. Grant of sanction by the appropriate authority is a precondition for the assessing officer to assume jurisdiction under Section 148 to issue a reassessment notice. Section 151 of the new regime does not prescribe a time limit within which a specified authority has to grant sanction. Rather, it links up the time limits with the jurisdiction of the authority to grant sanction. Section 151(ii) of the new regime prescribes a higher level of authority if more than three years have el....
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....2;129 c. Section 148A(d) - to pass an order deciding whether or not it is a fit case for issuing a notice under Section 148; and d. Section 148 - to issue a reassessment notice. 80. In Ashish Agarwal (supra), this Court directed that Section 148 notices which were challenged before various High Courts "shall be deemed to have been issued under Section 148-A of the Income Tax Act as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021 and construed or treated to be show-cause notices in terms of Section 148-A(b)." Further, this Court dispensed with the requirement of conducting any enquiry with the prior approval of the specified authority under Section 148A(a). Under Section 148A(b), an assessing officer was required to obtain prior approval from the specified authority before issuing a show cause notice. When this Court deemed the Section 148 notices under the old regime as Section 148A(b) notices under the new regime, it impliedly waived the requirement of obtaining prior approval from the specified authorities under Section 151 for Section 148A(b). It is well established that this Court while exercising its jurisdiction under Article 142, is not bound by the procedural requirements of law.....
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....cannot limit the constitutional powers of this Court under Article 142. The learned Judge further observed that in exercising its jurisdiction under Article 142, this Court will "take note of the express prohibitions in any substantive statutory provision based on some fundamental principles of public policy and regulate the exercise of its power and discretion accordingly." 84. In Supreme Court Bar Association v. Union of India,138 a Constitution Bench held that the powers under Article 142 cannot be exercised to supplant substantive law applicable to the matter pending before this Court. In Allahabad High Court Bar Association v. State of Uttar Pradesh,139 a Constitution Bench laid down the following parameters for the exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 142 : "27.1. The jurisdiction can be exercised to do complete justice between the parties before the Court. It cannot be exercised to nullify the benefits derived by a large number of litigants based on judicial orders validly passed in their favour who are not parties to the proceedings before this Court; 27.2. Article 142 does not empower this Court to ignore the substantive rights of the litigants; and 27.3. Wh....
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....this Court under Article 142 cannot be considered as a ratio because they are issued based on the peculiar facts and circumstances of the cause or matter before this Court.143 In State v. Kalyan Singh,144 this Court observed that a judgment has two components: (a) declaration of law; and (b) directions. In Bir Singh v. Mukesh Kumar,145 it was held that what is binding on all courts under Article 141146 is the declaration of law, and not the directions issued under Article 142.147 88. This Court has exercised its jurisdiction under Article 142 in tax matters where the actions of the Revenue are not in accordance with the law.148 In Whirlpool of India Ltd. v. CIT,149 this Court directed the Income Tax Officer to give effect to the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal by disallowing a particular deduction. In CIT v. Greenworld Corporation,150 the issue before this Court was whether a Commissioner of Income Tax151 appropriately issued directions under Section 263 of the Income Tax Act to an assessing officer to reopen assessments. It was held that the facts of the case did not merit the CIT to issue directions to the assessing officer. Consequently, this Court termed the reasses....
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....her appeals by the Revenue on the very issue by challenging similar judgments and orders, with a view not to burden this Court with approximately 9000 appeals. We also observe that the present order shall also govern the pending writ petitions, pending before various the High Courts in which similar notices under Section 148 of the Act issued after 1-4-2021 are under challenge." ( emphasis supplied ) The purpose of this Court in deeming the reassessment notices issued under the old regime as show cause notices under the new regime was two-fold: (i) to strike a balance between the rights of the assesses and the Revenue which issued approximately ninety thousand reassessment notices after 1 April 2021 under the old regime; and (ii) to avoid any further appeals before this Court by the Revenue on the same issue by challenging similar judgments and orders of the High Courts (arising from approximately nine thousand writ petitions). 91. Ashish Agarwal (supra) was primarily concerned with the validity of the reassessment notices issued between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 under the old regime. The scope of the directions in Ashish Agarwal (supra) applied PAN INDIA, including all t....
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....ween the Revenue and the assesses by giving effect to the legislative scheme of reassessment as contained under the new regime. It supplemented the existing legal framework of the procedure of reassessment under the Income Tax Act with a remedy grounded in equitable standards. iii. Effect of the legal fiction 94. Before we proceed, we need to bear in mind three important periods: i. The period up to 30 June 2021 - this period is covered by the provisions of the Income Tax Act read with TOLA; ii. The period from 1 July 2021 to 3 May 2022 - the period before the decision of this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra); and iii. The period after 4 May 2022 - the period after the decision of this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra). This period is covered by the directions issued by this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra) and the provisions of the Income Tax Act read with TOLA. a. Third proviso to Section 149 95. The third proviso to Section 149 reads thus: "Provided also that for the purposes of computing the period of limitation as per this section, the time or extended time allowed to the assessee, as per show-cause notice issued under clause (b) of section 148A or the period during w....
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....tion was to enable the Revenue "to proceed further with the reassessment proceedings as per the substituted provisions" of the Income Tax Act. Accordingly, all the reassessment notices issued under the old regime were deemed to always have been show cause notices issued under Section 148A(b) of the new regime. The fiction replaced Section 148 notices with Section 148A(b) notices with effect from the date when the notices under Section 148 of the old regime were issued between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021, as the case may be. This ensured the continuance of the reassessment process initiated by the Revenue from 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021 under the old regime. 100. Importantly, this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra) did not quash the reassessment notices issued under Section 148 of the old regime. In Shree Chamundi Mopeds Ltd. v. Church of South India Trust Association,160 a three-Judge Bench of this Court explained the distinction between quashing an order and staying the operation of an order thus: "10. [...] Quashing of an order results in the restoration of the position as it stood on the date of the passing of the order which has been quashed. The stay of operation of an ord....
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....period of limitation has to be computed "rationally and practically" in the following terms: "18. As a general rule, therefore, when there is no stay of the assessment proceedings passed by the court, Explanation 1 to Section 158-BE of the Act may not be attracted. However, this general statement of legal principle has to be read subject to an exception in order to interpret it rationally and practically. In those cases where stay of some other nature is granted than the stay of the assessment proceedings but the effect of such stay is to prevent the assessing officer from effectively passing assessment order, even that kind of stay order may be treated as stay of the assessment proceedings because of the reason that such stay order becomes an obstacle for the assessing officer to pass an assessment order thereby preventing the assessing officer to proceed with the assessment proceedings and carry out appropriate assessment." ( emphasis supplied ) 104. Section 11-A of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 mandated the Collector to make an award under Section 11 within two years from the date of publication of the declaration. The explanation to the provision allowed exclusion of "th....
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....elevant information and material by the assessing officer to the assessee. After the supply of the relevant material and information to the assessee, time begins to run for the assesses to respond to the show cause notices. 107. The third proviso to Section 149 allows the exclusion of time allowed for the assesses to respond to the show cause notice under Section 149A(b) to compute the period of limitation. The third proviso excludes "the time or extended time allowed to the assessee." Resultantly, the entire time allowed to the assessee to respond to the show cause notice has to be excluded for computing the period of limitation. In Ashish Agarwal (supra), this Court provided two weeks to the assesses to reply to the show cause notices. This period of two weeks is also liable to be excluded from the computation of limitation given the third proviso to Section 149. Hence, the total time that is excluded for computation of limitation for the deemed notices is: (i) the time during which the show cause notices were effectively stayed, that is, from the date of issuance of the deemed notice between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 till the supply of relevant information or material by th....
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....e date of the issuance of the deemed notices till the supply of relevant information and material by the assessing officers to the assesses in terms of the directions issued by this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra) has to be excluded from the computation of the period of limitation. Moreover, the period of two weeks granted to the assesses to reply to the show cause notices must also be excluded in terms of the third proviso to Section 149. 111. The clock started ticking for the Revenue only after it received the response of the assesses to the show causes notices. After the receipt of the reply, the assessing officer had to perform the following responsibilities: (i) consider the reply of the assessee under Section 149A(c); (ii) take a decision under Section 149A(d) based on the available material and the reply of the assessee; and (iii) issue a notice under Section 148 if it was a fit case for reassessment. Once the clock started ticking, the assessing officer was required to complete these procedures within the surviving time limit. The surviving time limit, as prescribed under the Income Tax Act read with TOLA, was available to the assessing officers to issue the reassessment n....
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....he Income Tax Act only to the extent of relaxing the time limit for issuance of a reassessment notice under Section 148; d. TOLA will extend the time limit for the grant of sanction by the authority specified under Section 151. The test to determine whether TOLA will apply to Section 151 of the new regime is this: if the time limit of three years from the end of an assessment year falls between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, then the specified authority under Section 151(i) has extended time till 30 June 2021 to grant approval; e. In the case of Section 151 of the old regime, the test is: if the time limit of four years from the end of an assessment year falls between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, then the specified authority under Section 151(2) has extended time till 31 March 2021 to grant approval; f. The directions in Ashish Agarwal (supra) will extend to all the ninety thousand reassessment notices issued under the old regime during the period 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021; g. The time during which the show cause notices were deemed to be stayed is from the date of issuance of the deemed notice between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 till the supply of relevant info....
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.... of this Act, and the Additional Commissioner or Additional Director or Joint Commissioner or Joint Director who is directed under clause (b) of sub-section (4) of that section to exercise or perform all or any of the powers or functions conferred on, or assigned to, an Assessing Officer under this Act."] 5 Section 147, Income Tax Act 6 Section 148, Income Tax Act. [It read: "148.(1) Before making the assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147, the Assessing Officer shall serve on the assessee a notice requiring him to furnish within such period, as may be specified in the notice, a return of his income or the income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year corresponding to the relevant assessment year, in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed; and the provisions of this Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly as if such return were a return required to be furnished 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, 19....
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....elevant assessment year unless the income in relation to any asset (including financial interest in any entity) located outside India, chargeable to tax, has escaped assessment. Explanation.-In determining income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment for the purposes of this sub-section, the provisions of Explanation 2 of section 147 shall apply as they apply for the purposes of that section. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) as to the issue of notice shall be subject to the provisions of section 151. (3) If the person on whom a notice under section 148 is to be served is a person treated as the agent of a non-resident under section 163 and the assessment, reassessment or recomputation to be made in pursuance of the notice is to be made on him as the agent of such non-resident, the notice shall not be issued after the expiry of a period of six years from the end of the relevant assessment year. Explanation.-For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (3), as amended by the Finance Act, 2012, shall also be applicable for any assessment year beginning on or before the 1st day of April, 2012."] 8 Section 151....
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.... and if he so desires, to seek reasons for issuing notices. The assessing officer is bound to furnish reasons within a reasonable time. On receipt of reasons, the noticee is entitled to file objections to issuance of notice and the assessing officer is bound to dispose of the same by passing a speaking order. In the instant case, as the reasons have been disclosed in these proceedings, the assessing officer has to dispose of the objections, if filed, by passing a speaking order, before proceeding with the assessment in respect of the abovesaid five assessment years."] 14 Press Information Bureau, PM calls for complete lockdown of entire nation for 21 days (24 March 2020) https://pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1608009 15 Press Information Bureau, 'Finance Minister announces several relief measures relating to Statutory and Regulatory compliance matters across Sectors in view of COVID-19 outbreak' (24 March 2020) available at: https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1607942 16 "TOLA Ordinance" 17 CBDT, Notification No. 35 of 2020, dated 24 June 2020. 18 Section 1(2), TOLA. [It reads: "(2) Save as otherwise provided, it shall be deemed to have come into f....
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....he Assessing Officer is satisfied, with the prior approval of the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, that any money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing, seized or requisitioned under section 132 or section 132A in case of any other person on or after the 1st day of April, 2021, belongs to the assessee; or (iv) the Assessing Officer is satisfied, with the prior approval of Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, that any books of account or documents, seized or requisitioned under section 132 or section 132A in case of any other person on or after the 1st day of April, 2021, pertains or pertain to, or any information contained therein, relate to, the assessee, the Assessing Officer shall be deemed to have information which suggests that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment in the case of the assessee for the three assessment years immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which the search is initiated or books of account, other documents or any assets are requisitioned or survey is conducted in the case of the assessee or money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing or books of account o....
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....e time or extended time allowed to the assessee, as per show-cause notice issued under clause (b) of section 148A or the period during which the proceeding under section 148A is stayed by an order or injunction of any court, shall be excluded: Provided also that where immediately after the exclusion of the period referred to in the immediately preceding proviso, the period of limitation available to the Assessing Officer for passing an order under clause (d) of section 148A is less than seven days, such remaining period shall be extended to seven days and the period of limitation under this sub- section shall be deemed to be extended accordingly. Explanation.-For the purposes of clause (b) of this sub-section, "asset" shall include immovable property, being land or building or both, shares and securities, loans and advances, deposits in bank account. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) as to the issue of notice shall be subject to the provisions of section 151.] than seven days and but not exceeding thirty days from the date on which such notice is issued, or such time, as may be extended by him on the basis of an application in this behalf, as to why a notice unde....
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....oner or Principal Director General or where there is no Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General, Chief Commissioner or Director General, if more than three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year."] 23 Section 2(21) of the Income Tax Act defines Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Director or Director to mean "a person appointed to be a Principal Director General or Director General of Income tax or a Principal Director General or Director General of Income tax or, as the case may be, a Principal Director or Director of Income tax or Principal Director of Income tax, under sub-section (1) of Section 117, and includes a person appointed under that sub-section to be an Additional Director of Income tax or a Joint Director of Income tax or as Assistant Director or Deputy Director of Income tax." 24 Notification No. 20 of 2021 dt. 31 March 2021; Notification No. 38 of 2021 dt. 27 April 2021. [The explanation reads: "Explanation - For the removal of doubts, it is hereby clarified that for the purposes of issuance of notice under section 148 as per time-limit specified in section 149 or sanction under section 151....
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....o see Express Newspaper (P) Ltd. v. Union of India, 1958 SCC OnLine SC 23 [111] 43 Gullapalli Nageswara Rao v. State of A P, 1959 SCC OnLine SC 53 [6] 44 Indian & Eastern Newspaper Society v. CIT, (1979) 4 SCC 248 [5]; K T Moopil Nair v. State of Kerala, 1960 SCC OnLine SC 7 [9] 45 CED v. M A Merchant, 1989 Supp (1) SCC 499 [8] 46 CST v. H M Esufali, H M Abdali, (1973) 2 SCC 137 [17] 47 Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes v. H R Sri Ramulu, (1977) 1 SCC 703 [7] 48 See Income Tax Officer v. S K Habibullah, 1962 SCC OnLine SC 58 [7] 49 (1976) 4 SCC 435 50 Supdt. of Taxes v. Onkarmal Nathmal Trust, (1976) 1 SCC 766 [37]; 51 S Narayanappa v. CIT, 1966 SCC OnLine SC 173 [4] ["4. [...] The proceedings for assessment or reassessment under Section 34(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act start with the issue of a notice and it is only after the service of the notice that the assessee, whose income in sought to be assessed or re-assessed, becomes a party to those proceedings. The earlier stage of the proceeding for recording the reasons of the Income Tax Officer and for obtaining the sanction of the Commissioner are administrative in character and are not quasi-judicial....
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.... SCC 201 [106] 81 Mahim Patram (P) Ltd. v. Union of India, (2007) 3 SCC 668 [25] 82 (1975) 2 SCC 736 [29] 83 K P Mohammed Salim v. CIT, (2008) 11 SCC 573 [14]; 84 Mohan Kumar Singhania v. Union of India, 1992 Supp (1) SCC 594 [52]; CIT v. Hindustan Bulk Carriers, (2003) 3 SCC 57 [17] 85 (1994) 4 SCC 276 86 Gursahai Saigal v. CIT, (1963) 48 ITR (SC) 1 [9] 87 CIT v. Mahaliram Ramjidas, AIR 1940 PC 124; 88 Gursahai Saigal (supra) [13] 89 (1992) 4 SCC 363 [40] 90 MCD v. Shiv Shanker, (1971) 1 SCC 442 [5] 91 Sultana Begum v. Prem Chand Jain, (1997) 1 SCC 373 [15] 92 In re: Interplay between Arbitration Agreements under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 and the Indian Stamp Act 1899, 2023 INSC 1066 [165] 93 State of Bihar v. Bihar Rajya MSESKK Mahasangh, (2005) 9 SCC 129 [45] 94 Union of India v. G M Kokil, 1984 Supp SCC 196 [11] 95 (1986) 4 SCC 447 96 ICICI Bank Ltd v. SIDCO Leathers Ltd, (2006) 10 SCC 452 [37] 97 SIDCO Leathers Ltd (supra) [34]; Geeta v. State of U P, (2010) 13 SCC 678 [45] 98 A G Varadarajulu v. State of Tamil Nadu, (1998) 4 SCC 231 [16] 99 State of Orissa v. M A Tulloch, 1963 SCC OnLine SC 18 [20] 10....
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....nternational Monetary Fund, Policy Responses to COVID-19 https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/imf-andcovid19/ Policy-Responses-to-COVID-19 125 In Re: Interplay between Arbitration Agreements under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 and the Indian Stamp Act 1899, 2023 INSC 1066 [159] 126 (2023) 453 ITR 417 127 M P V Sundararamier v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 1958 SCC OnLine SC 22 128 Srikrishna Private Ltd v. ITO, (1996) 9 SCC 534 [4] 129 Section 45, Finance Act 2022 130 Allahabad High Court Bar Association v. State of U P, (2024) 6 SCC 267 [27.3] 131 Article 142, Constitution. [It reads: "142(1) The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or order so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as President may by order prescribe." 132 Jose Da Costa v. Bascora Sadasiva Sinai Narcornim, (1976) 2 SCC 917 [37] 133 Ganga Bishan v. Jai Narain, (1986) ....
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....om the rigour of the law in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances do not comprise the ratio decidendi and therefore lose its basic premise of making it a binding precedent. This Court in the qui vive has expanded the horizons of Article 142 of the Constitution by keeping it outside the purview of Article 141 of the Constitution and declaring it a direction of the Court that changes its complexion with the peculiarity in the facts and circumstances of the case."] 148 See Prashanti Medical Services & Research Foundation v. Union of India, (2020) 14 SCC 785 [30] 149 (2000) 9 SCC 62 150 (2009) 7 SCC 69 151 "CIT" 152 Ashish Agarwal (supra) [27] and [29] 153 Gajraj Singh v. STAT, (1997) 1 SCC 650 [22] 154 CIT v. Calcutta Stock Exchange, 1959 SCC OnLine SC 126 [5]; Sudha Rani Garg v. Jagdish Kumar, (2004) 8 SCC 329 [11] 155 Gajraj Singh (supra) [22] 156 (2005) 1 SCC 754 157 State of Maharashtra v. Laljit Rajshi Shah, (2000) 2 SCC 699 [6]. 158 Bengal Immunity Company Ltd v. State of Bihar, 1955 SCC OnLine SC 2 159 Industrial Supplies (P) Ltd. v. Union of India, (1980) 4 SCC 341 [25] 160 (1992) 3 SCC 1 161 (2016) 12 SCC 32 162 Abhey Ram v.....