TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (6) TMI 1641
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....56(2)(via) be deleted." 2.1. Assessee has also raised additional grounds, vide application dated 11.04.2025, which are reproduced as under. According to the assessee these grounds of appeal are legal in nature. There being no objection from the other side on the admission of these grounds, the same are admitted. "That the proceeding of re-assessment, completed u/s. 147 vide order dated 30.05.2023, is being void ab initio for the want of the jurisdiction in view of gross violation of s.147, 148 and 151 of the Act, to be prices; (a) as reopening notice issued, in the 4th year from the end of relevant assessment year u/s 148 respectively vide dated 15.04.2021 and 31.07.2022 being approved by the Range 17(1), Mumbai and PCIT-17, Mumbai which are not the specified authority u/s 151 to give approval to invoke s. 148 of the Act. Besides, the notice issued vide dated 31.07 2022 is without mandatory DIN and DIN is supplemented by the follow up correspondence to make the notice non-est. (b) as this assessment completed u/s. 147 of the Act is without having made the compliance of s.148A of the Act in view of the decision in the case of Ashish Agarwal 444 ITR 1(SC....
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....s 148 of the Act declaring loss of Rs. 3,29,080/- under the head income from business and profession. Ld. Assessing Officer issued a show cause notice to the assessee on 19.05.2023, enquiring about the difference between the consideration paid by the assessee in respect of purchase of immovable property of Rs. 3,65,00,000/- for which the market value for the purpose of stamp duty was recorded at Rs. 4,79,39,000/- so as to make an addition u/s. 56(2)(viia) for the difference of Rs. 1,10,30,000/-. Assessee replied vide its submission dated 23.05.2023. Ld. Assessing Officer subsequently completed the assessment vide order dated 30.05.2023 making the addition of the said amount of difference. It is important to note that in the course of assessment, assessee had made a categorical request for making a reference to the Department Valuation Officer (DVO) in terms of provisions contained in section 56(2)(viia). Ld. Assessing Officer has taken cognizance of the submissions made by the assessee for the request for reference to DVO. In this respect, he noted that since the assessee has made such a request at the fag end of the assessment proceedings, owing to the limited time available for c....
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....e 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 elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year; (iii) the proviso to Section 149(1)(b) of the new regime stipulates that the Revenue can issue reassessment notices for past assessment years only if the time limit survives according to Section 149(1)(b) of the old regime, that is, six years from the end of the rel....
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....nt 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 me 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 ye....
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....ioned which is to relax the time limit for compliance with actions that fall for completion from 20.03.2020 to 31.03.2021. Thus, the objective is specific for providing temporal flexibility. In para 78, the same has been explained by an example taking Assessment Year 2017-18 which also in specific terms mentions that the authority specified u/s. 151(i) of the new regime can grant sanction till 30.06.2021. Thus, while concluding in para 81 on the issue obtaining approval, Hon'ble Court has specifically stated that the Assessing Officer is required to obtain prior approval of the specified authority according to section 151 of the new regime before passing an order u/s. 148A(d) or issuing a notice u/s. 148. According to the Hon'ble Court, though it had waived off the requirement obtaining prior approval u/s. 148A(a) and Section 148A(b), it did not waive the requirement for section 148A(d) and Section 148. 4.3. Thus, on the stated facts and law, in the present case, three years had lapsed from the end of the Assessment Year on 31.03.2021 when the notice u/s. 148 was issued on 31.07.2022. In the present case, since the notice u/s. 148 has been issued beyond the period of thr....