TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (6) TMI 404
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....ppeals and Revenue has filed one appeal. Since common and identical issue has been involved in all these appeals, hence, these appeals are taken up together for adjudication and are being decided by this common order. 2. For the sake of convenience, the Appeal of the assessee in ITA No. 1579/Del/2022 (AY 2013-14) is taken up as lead case. ITA NO. 1579/DEL/2022 (AY 2013-14) 3. The Assessee has filed this appeal against the Order of the Ld. CIT(Appeal-24), New Delhi dated 19.07.2021, relating to assessment year 2013-14 on as many as 15 grounds, but he only argued the ground No. 11, which reads as under:- "That on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the statutory approval so granted u/s. 153D of the Act is merely ....
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....was granted by the Additional CIT on the same day i.e. approval under section 153D for atleast for 15 cases has been granted in a single day, hence, the approval under section 153D of the Act has been granted in mechanical manner without due application of mind. 4.2 It was further submitted that approval under section 153D of the Act has been granted without examination assessment record, seized matter, notices issued by AO and reply filed by assessee in response of such notices. However, it is a settled position of law that approval under section 153D of the Act should be granted after due examination of assessment record and incriminating material, if any seized. It is also evident from the approval granted u/s. 153D of the Act that th....
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....years, however, the said approval was required to be given for "each year". We further note that AO/ACIT, CC-08, New Delhi sent a common letter dated 07.12.2018 for approval u/s. 153D of the Act for the assessment years 2013-14 to 2016-17 to the Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax and the Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax granted approval for all the assessment years from AY 2013-14 to 2016-17 by a common letter dated 08.12.2018 i.e. on the very next day. It is observed that the approval granted by the Additional CIT u/s 153D of the IT Act on the very next day for all the assessment years i.e. from AY 2010-11 to 2016-17 by way of single letter was without application of mind and mechanical in nature. Furthermore, the Additional CIT failed to co....
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....ny consideration of merits in proposed additions failed to consider any seized material which have been relied upon by the AO while framing the draft assessment orders in the case of the assessee has proceeded to grant a simplicitor approval. This approach of the Additional CIT has rendered approval be a mere formality and cannot be countenanced in law. In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the considered view that approval granted by Additional CIT is not valid in the eyes of law. It is apparently clear that Additional Commissioner of Income Tax has given approval which is purely mechanical and without application of mind. In such cases, the assessment looses its validity, hence, the same deserve to be quas....
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....d approval mechanically, inasmuch as, it was humanly impossible for the said authority to have perused and appraised the records of 85 cases in a single day. It was explicitly held that the authority granting approval has to apply its mind for 'each assessment year' for 'each assessee' separately. * A similar view taken by High Court of Delhi in the case of PCIT v. Anuj Bansal [IT Appeal 368/2023], it was reiterated that the exercise of powers u/s 153D cannot be done mechanically. Thus, the salient aspect which emerges from the above-mentioned decisions is that grant of approval u/s 153D cannot be merely a ritualistic formality or rubber stamping by the authority, rather it must reflect an appropriate application of....