TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 173
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....ncome-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") dated 29.12.2019 by the Assessing Officer, DCIT, Central Circle-II, Noida (hereinafter referred to as "ld. AO").Identical issues are involved in both these appeals and hence they are taken up together and disposed of by this common order for the sake of convenience. The facts of Assessment Year 2016- 17 are taken up for adjudication and decision rendered thereon shall apply mutatis mutandis for Assessment Year 2018-19 also. 2. Though the assessee has raised several grounds before us, the preliminary issue raised by the assessee is with regard to mechanical approval given by the Learned Additional Commissioner of Income Tax (Ld. Addl CIT) under section 153D of the Act. This goes t....
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.... preferred an appeal before the Learned CIT(A), wherein the fact of approval under section 153D of the Act being granted in a mechanical manner by the Learned Additional CIT thereby making the entire assessment proceedings void ab initio, was indeed raised, vide Ground No. 1.1. The case of the assessee falls under the jurisdiction of Hon'ble Allahabad High Court. Hence, the decision of Hon'ble Allahabad High Court would become Jurisdictional High Court decision for the assessee and would be binding on all the subordinate authorities. Accordingly, the assessee placed reliance on the decision of Hon'ble Jurisdictional Allahabad High Court in the case of PCIT vs Siddharth Gupta reported in 450 ITR 534 (All) in support of its contentions. The a....
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....nsolidated approval for 11 assessee's for Assessment Years 2012-13 to 2018-19 on a single day which is in violation of provisions of Section 153D of the Act itself as the said section mandates approval to be given for each assessee for each assessment year separately. Hence the entire written submissions of the Learned DR would not advance the case of the revenue in any manner. 5. The Learned DR vehemently argued that very existence of high presumption of law which is also codified u/s 114(e) of the then Indian Evidence Act, 1872 that all official acts are regularly performed and therefore, the Tribunal had to accept that the presumption of approval are validly granted. The Learned DR further stated that merely because the approvals were....
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....given in the assessment order. It is admitted by Sri Gaurav Mahajan, learned counsel for the appellant-revenue that the approval order is an administrative exercise of power on the part of the Approving Authority but it is sought to be submitted that mere fact that the approval was in existence on the date of the passing of the assessment order, it could not have been vitiated. This submission is found to be a fallacy, in as much as, the prior approval of superior authority means that it should appraise the material before it so as to appreciate on factual and legal aspects to ascertain that the entire material has been examined by the Assessing Authority before preparing the draft assessment order. It is trite in law that the approval must....
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....rity on 30-12-2017 and 31- 12-2017 were approved on 31-12-2017, which not only included the cases of respondent-assessee but the cases of other groups as well. It is humanly impossible to go through the records of 123 cases in one day to apply independent mind to appraise the material before the Approving Authority. The conclusion drawn by the Tribunal that it was a mechanical exercise of power, therefore, cannot be said to be perverse or contrary to the material on record." (emphasis supplied by us) 8. Similar views were expressed by the Hon'ble Allahabad High Court in the case of PCIT Vs. Subodh Agarwal reported in 149 taxmann.com 373 (All. HC); PCIT Vs. Sapna Gupta reported in 147 taxmann.com 288 (All. HC) and by Hon'ble Delhi High....
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....g granted in a mechanical manner without due application of mind. Hence, the Ground No. B raised by the assessee is hereby allowed. Consequentially the assessment framed for Assessment Years 2016-17 and 2018-19 are hereby quashed. Since, the assessments are quashed based on Ground No. B, the other grounds raised by the assessee need not be gone into and they are left open. 12. In the result, both the appeals of the assessee are allowed. Order pronounced in the open court on 16/06/2025. ============= Document 1 OFFICE OF THE ADDL. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX CENTRAL RANGE, BHANSHALI GROUND, MEERUT. Phone-0121-2403191, Fax-0121-2510082 F.No. Addl. CIT/CR/MRT/Approval/153D/2019-20/ Dated: 28.12.2019 1516 To, The Dy, Co....