TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (1) TMI 702
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....0-2022 (O&M), CWP-19347-2022 (O&M), . CWP-19480-2022 (O&M), CWP-19490-2022 (O&M), CWP-19493-2022 (O&M), CWP-19538-2022 (O&M), CWP-19553-2022 (O&M), CWP-19640-2022 (O&M), CWP-20228-2022 (O&M), CWP-20230-2022 (O&M), CWP-20246-2022 (O&M), CWP-20253-2022 (O&M), CWP-20268-2022 (O&M), CWP-20270-2022 (O&M), CWP-20274-2022 (O&M), CWP-20312-2022 (O&M), CWP-20316-2022 (O&M), CWP-20340-2022 (O&M), CWP-20351-2022 (O&M), CWP-20354-2022 (O&M), CWP-20506-2022 (O&M), CWP-20515-2022 (O&M), CWP-20594-2022 (O&M), CWP-20604-2022 (O&M), CWP-20622-2022 (O&M), CWP-20655-2022 (O&M), CWP-20734-2022 (O&M), CWP-20750-2022 (O&M), CWP-20878-2022 (O&M), CWP-20902-2022 (O&M), CWP-21372-2022 (O&M), CWP-21394-2022 (O&M), CWP-21466-2022 (O&M), CWP-21542-2022 (O&M), CWP-21897-2022 (O&M), CWP-22071-2022 (O&M), CWP-22084-2022 (O&M), CWP-22138-2022 (O&M), CWP-22294-2022 (O&M), CWP-22806-2022 (O&M), CWP-23030-2022 (O&M), CWP-23769-2022 (O&M), CWP-23780-2022 (O&M), CWP-23900-2022 (O&M), CWP-23954-2022 (O&M), CWP-24324-2022 (O&M), CWP-24506-2022 (O&M), CWP-25033-2022 (O&M), CWP-25054-2022 (O&M), CWP-25058-2022 (O&M), CWP-25066-2022 (O&M) CWP-25102-2022 (O&M), CWP-25126-2022 (O&M), CWP-25209-2022 (O&M), CWP-25265-2022 (O&M....
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.... Sunny Garg, Prem Chand and Company, Sunny Garg, Karan Singh, Hari Ram, Anjani Kumar, Vijay Kumar, M/s Raj Sons, Jitender Kumar, Kay Bee Safal India Ltd., Shree Mahalaxmi Trading Company, Kailash Chand Gupta, Anju Gupta, Rajeev Suneja, Surjit Kumar (HUF) Th. Karta Surjit Kumar Chopra, M/s. TMS Real Estate Pvt. Ltd., Sweeti Kumari, M/s VV International, Krishan Kumar Kasera, Parveen Garg, Kewal Garg, M/s. Kaithal Solvent Private Limited, Gulzar Singh Since Deceased Th. Legal Heir., Lalita Lohi, Mahi Pal, Sunita, Ajay Swami, Rajiv Kumar Lohia, Hawa Singh Goyal, Sudarshan Singh Sangwan, Roshan Lal Agarwal, Mainpal Singh, M/s Ram Parkash Mulakh Raj, Sunita, New Punjab Pesticides, Rameshwar Dass Garg, Rameshwar Dass Garg, Aditya Gulati, Sanjay Goyal, Neeraj Kumar Mehta, Tirath Ram Surinder Paul, Purshotam Dass, Halcyon Life Sciences Pvt Ltd., Ankit Basia, Bain & Company Inc., Bain & Company, Inc. 131, Renu Jain, Abhishek Jain, Anita Jain, Prince Jain, Sumit Garg, Shree Jee Jee Grain Products Pvt Ltd., Ajay Kumar HUF, Shee Jee Jee Grain Products Pvt Ltd., Suman Mittal, Jay Jay Agro Industries, Priyanka Mittal, Yoginder Kumar Sharma, Veena Devi Sureka, Ruchi Jain, Br Guar Gum Pvt Ltd., Na....
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....Arun Rana, Advoate and Ms. Rohini Bedi, Advocate, Mr. Vishav Bharti Gupta, Advocate and Ms. Mamta Gupta, Advocate, Mr. Alok Mittal, Advocate and Mr. Sylvester, Advocate Mr. Chetan Jain, Advocate, Mr. Peyush Pruthi, Advocate, Mr. Pranav Jain, Advocate,. For the Respondent(s) - Revenue: Mr. Yogesh Putney, Sr. Standing Counsel Mr. Vaibhav Gupta, Jr. Standing Counsel, Ms. Urvashi Dhugga, Sr. Standing Counsel, Mr. Saurabh Kapoor, Sr. Standing Counsel Ms. Pridhi Sandhu, Sr. Standing Counsel, Mr. Ranvijay Singh, Sr. Standing Counsel, Ms. Gauri Neo Rampal, Sr. Standing Counsel (through V.C.) Mr. Varun Issar, Sr. Standing Counsel,. SANJEEV PRAKASH SHARMA, J. The aforesaid bunch of writ petitions has been taken up together as one of the questions of law arises for determination in all the writ petitions for determination is as under:- "Whether the proceedings could have been initiated and continued by the jurisdictional assessing officer and the assessment order could have been passed by him in cases where the original notices issued by the jurisdictional assessing officer were treated to have been issued in terms of the new regime by the Supreme Court in Union of India and....
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....ce till the same were substituted by the Finance Act, 2022 with effect from 01.04.2022 and the new Section 144B (1) of the Act again started with a non-obstante clause, which is as under:- "Faceless Assessment. 144B (1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other provision of this Act, the assessment, reassessment or recomputation under sub-section (3) of section 143 or under section 144 or under section 147, as the case may be, with respect to the cases referred to in sub-section (2), shall be made in a faceless manner as per the following procedure. (i) to (xxxii) xxx xxx It was again provided under sub-sections (7) and (8), which are as under:- "(7) (a) The Principal Chief Commissioner or the Principal Director General, as the case may be, in-charge of the National Faceless Assessment Centre shall in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Board in this regard, if he considers appropriate that the provisions of sub-section (2A) of section 142 may be invoked in the case,- (i) forward the reference received from an assessment unit under clause (xxxii) of sub-section (1) to the Principal Chief Commissioner o....
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....l" were omitted by the Finance Act, 2023 with effect from 01.04.2023 and the proviso, as above was added. The Faceless assessment of income escaping assessment was inserted by the Act of 2020 with effect from 01.11.2020, which is as under:- "Faceless assessment of income escaping assessment, 151A. (1) The Central Government may make a scheme, by notification in the Official Gazette, for the purposes of assessment, reassessment or re-computation under section 147 or issuance of notice under section 148 [or conducting of enquiries or issuance of show-cause notice or passing of order under section 148A] or sanction for issue of such notice under section 151, so as impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability by- a. eliminating the interface between the income-tax authority and the assessee or any other person to the extent technologically feasible; b. optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation; c. introducing a team-based assessment, reassessment, re-computation or issuance or sanction of notice with dynamic jurisdiction. (2) The Central Government may, for the pur....
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....azette, direct that any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the notification: Provided that no direction shall be issued after the 31st day of March, 2022. (3) Every notification issued under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, as soon as may be after the notification is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament." In terms of the aforesaid provisions, the CBDT exercising power under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of Section 130 of the Act introduced and framed a scheme called 'Faceless Jurisdiction of Income Tax Authorities Scheme, 2022' vide notification dated 28.03.2022. Thus, the scheme was introduced on 28.03.2022 and 29.03.2022 by the CBDT. The jurisdiction of Assessing Officer is provided under Section 124 of the Act. It means the jurisdiction to assess any person and also to reassess. However, as per the scheme, the National Faceless Assessment Center was to act as the assessing officer having jurisdiction to make assessment and reassessment of the returns and the proceedings which are to be placed through automated allocation. For the pu....
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....ve High Courts shall be deemed to have been issued under section 148A of the IT Act as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021 and construed or treated within to be show-cause notices in terms of section 148A (b). The assessing officer shall, within thirty days from today provide to the respective assessees information and material relied upon by the Revenue, so that the assesees can reply to the show-cause notices within two weeks thereafter; (ii) The requirement of conducting any enquiry, if required, with the prior approval of specified authority under section 148A(a) is hereby dispensed with as a one-time measure vis-a-vis those notices which have been issued under section 148 of the unamended Act from 01.04.2021 till date, including those which have been quashed by the High Courts. Even otherwise as observed hereinabove holding any enquiry with the prior approval of specified authority is not mandatory but it is for the concerned Assessing Officers to hold any enquiry, if required: (iii) The assessing officers shall thereafter pass orders in terms of section 148A (d) in respect of each of the concerned assessees, Thereafter after following the procedure....
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.... a notice under Section 148 of the new regime "after following the procedure as required under Section 148-A." Although this Court waived off the requirement of obtaining prior approval under Section 148A(a) and Section 148A (b), it did not waive the requirement for Section 148A (d) and Section 148. Therefore, the assessing officer was required to obtain prior approval of the specified authority according to Section 151 of the new regime before passing an order under Section 148A (d) or issuing a notice under Section 148. These notices ought to have been issued following the time limits specified under Section 151 of the new regime read with TOLA, where applicable." It further examined the interplay of Ashish Aggarwal's case with TOLA as under:- "110. The effect of the creation of the legal fiction in Ashish Agarwal (supra) was that it stopped the clock of limitation with effect from the date of issuance of Section 148 notices under the old regime [which is also the date of issuance of the deemed notices]. As discussed in the preceding segments of this judgment, the period from the date of the issuance of the deemed notices till the supply of relevant information and ma....
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....ect to the relevant assessment years, an assessing officer has to: (i) issue the notices within the period prescribed under Section 149(1) of the new regime read with TOLA; and (ii) obtain the previous approval of the authority specified under Section 151. A notice issued without complying with the preconditions is invalid as it affects the jurisdiction of the assessing officer. Therefore, the reassessment notices issued under Section 148 of the new regime, which are in pursuance of the deemed notices, ought to be issued within the time limit surviving under the Income Tax Act read with TOLA. A reassessment notice issued beyond the surviving time limit will be time barred. In Rajeev Bansal's case (supra), the Supreme Court, therefore, held and concluded as under:- "G. Conclusions 114. In view of the above discussion, we conclude that: a. After 1 April 2021, the Income Tax Act has to be read along with the substituted provisions; b. 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 Mar....
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....authority in view of the scheme notified on 29.03.2022 (supra). 10. After having considered the various aspects and the provisions of Section 144B (7 & 8) of the Act and Circular issued therein, this Court in Jasjit Singh's case (supra) held as under:- "16. We are in agreement with the view taken by the Coordinate Bench and hold that such circular or instructions by the Board could not have been issued to override statutory provisions or to make them otiose or obsolete. Legislative enactments having financial implications are required to be followed strictly and mandatorily. By exercising the powers contained in Sections 119 and 120 of the Act, 1961 as well as Section 144B (7 & 8), the authorities cannot be allowed to usurp the legal provisions to their own satisfaction and convenience causing hardship to the assessees. It also leaves confusion in the minds of the taxpayers. In the opinion of this Court, instructions and circulars can be issued only for the purpose of supplementing the statutory provisions and for their implementation. 17. In view of the aforesaid discussion, there is no occasion to distinguish or take a different view as suggested by the learn....
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.... Corporation and another vs M/s Jagdamba Oil Mills and another; Kluber Lubrication (India) Private Limited vs Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Gandhinagar, Bangalore; Appeal (Civil) No. 689 of 1998 P.S. Sathappan (dead) by LRs. Vs Andhra Bank Limited and others (2004) 11 SCC 672 and State of U. P. and others vs Jeet S. Bisht and another (2007) 7 SCR 705. 14. It is his further submissions that provisions of Section 144B read with Section 151A of the Act, including notification dated 29.03.2022, were not under consideration or examined by the Apex Court in both the cases, namely, Ashish Aggarwal and Rajeev Bansal. Hence, he submits that the observations made by the Apex Court in Ashish Aggarwal's case (supra) would not be said to mean that the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer was empowered to examine and pass assessment order. He submits that the Supreme Court realizes that after the faceless scheme was brought into operation, assessment or reassessment can only be done in accordance with the new regime. 15. He submits that against the judgments passed by this Court in Jasjit Singh; Telangana High Court in Kankanala Ravindra Reddy and Bombay High Court in Hexaware T....
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....th day of September, 2005, in response to a notice served under this section, and (b) subsequently a notice has been served under clause (i) of sub-section (2) of sermon 143 after the expiry of twelve months specified in the proviso to clause (i) of sub-section (2) of section 143, but before the expiry of the time limit for making the assessment, reassessment or recomputation as specified in sub-section section 153, every such notice referred to in this clause shall be deemed to be a valid notice. Explanation-For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that nothing contained in the first proviso or the second proviso shall apply to any return which has been furnished on or after the 1st day of October, 2005 in response to a notice served under this section. (2) The Assessing Officer shall, before issuing any notice under this section, record is reasons for doing so." Section 149 of the Act as stood prior to the Finance Act, 2021 "149. Time limit for notice (1) No notice under section 148 shall be issued for the relevant assessment year,- (a) if four years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year, unless the....
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.... 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 no notice under this section shall be issued unless there is information with the Assessing Officer which suggests that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment in the case of the assessee for the relevant assessment year and the Assessing Officer has obtained prior approval of the specified authority to issue such notice: Provided further that no such approval shall be required where the Assessing Officer, with the prior approval of the specified authority, has passed an order under clause (d) of section 148A to the effect that it is a fit case to issue a notice under this section:] [Provided also that any return of income, required to be furnished by an assessee under this section and furnished beyond the period allowed shall note deemed to....
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.... is conducted in the case of the assesse or money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing or books of accounts or documents are seized or requisitioned in case of any other person. Explanation 3-For the purposes of this section, specified authority mean the specified authority referred to in section 151.] Conducting inquiry, providing opportunity before issue of notice under section 148. 148A. The Assessing Officer shall, before issuing any notice under section 148,- (a) conduct any enquiry, if required, with the prior approval of specified authority, with respect to the information which suggests that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment; (b) provide an opportunity of being heard to the assessee, by serving upon him a notice to show cause within such time, as may be specified in the notice, being not less 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 under section 148 should not be issued on the basis of information which suggests that income chargeable t....
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....missioner, in respect of an assessment year to which clause (1) or clause (i) or clause (iii) or clause (iv) of Explanation 2 to section 148 apply except with the prior approval of the Additional Commissioner or Additional Director or Joint Commissioner or Joint Director.] Time limit for notice. 149. (1) No notice under section 148 shall be issued for the relevant assessment year,- (a) if three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year, unless the case falls under clause (b); (b) if three years, but not more than ten years, have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the Assessing Officer has in his possession books of account or other documents or evidence which reveal that the income chargeable to fax, represented in the form of (i) an asset; (ii) expenditure in respect of a transaction or in relation to an event or occasion; or (iii) an entry or entries in the books of account, which has escaped assessment amounts to or is likely to amount fifty lakh rupees or more:] Provided that no notice under section 148 shall be issued at any time in a case for the rel....
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....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 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 [does not exceed 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. (1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where the income chargeable to tax represented in the form of an asset or expenditure in relation to an event or occasion of the value referred to in clause (b) of sub-section ....
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....ural corollary would be that such replies which may be received to the notice issued under Section 148A (b) of the Act, would be examined by the same assessing officer, who had originally issued the notices under the old regime. His jurisdiction cannot be said to have been taken away for examining the reply to notice under Section 148A (b) of the Act. Therefore, as a result the same assessing officer i.e. JAO would be also entitled to take a decision on such reply and pass orders of assessment or reassessment in terms of the new provisions of Section 148 of the Act. 20. In Rajeev Bansal's case (supra), the Apex Court took into consideration the said aspect and held that the revenue shall after receiving the response of the assessee, consider the reply in terms of Section 148A(c) of the Act and take a decision under Section 148A (d) of the Act. The scheme of the new provisions also reflect that it is the assessing officer, who has issued notices, would take a decision under Section 148A (d) of the Act as it is he who would be having the available material to examine the reply of the assessee. He would thereafter issue notice under Section 148 of the Act treating it to be a fit ca....
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....ch has been treated to be a notice under Section 148A of the Act and Section 148 of the old Act, as notices under Section 148A(a) and (b) of the Act. He would, therefore, be the best person to assess and re-assess the provisions of law are required to be otherwise considered strictly. However, in cases where there is an allegation of escape of income, on account of which notices were issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer, must reach to its logical conclusion by the same officer. We, therefore, hold that the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer would continue to proceed and have jurisdiction to decide the notices which were originally issued by him. 24. In the opinion of this Court, the procedure which has been laid down under the new regime will of course have to be followed by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. 25. We find that no prejudice would be caused if such a course is adopted by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer. The submission of the petitioners is, therefore, found to be without force. 26. In view of our above reasons and observations, we do not agree with the view taken by the Telangana High Court in Kankanala Ravindra Reddy's case (supra). 27. Th....