TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 1895
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.... impugned notices are time barred under section 149(1)(b) of the Act and (ii) the notices are issued without proper sanction under section 151 of the Act. 3. These petitions are pending in view of the both issues were arising out of the decision of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Union of India and others v. Ashish Agarwal reported in (2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC) which is now further explained and both the issues are decided by the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal reported in (2024) 469 ITR 46 (SC). B. FACTS 4. Brief facts giving rise to these petitions can be summarised as under: 5. By the Finance Act, 2021, provisions of sections 147 to 151 pertaining to income escaping assessment and sanction for issuance of notice were amended with effect from April 1,2021, introducing a new procedure for issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act for reopening where income has escaped assessment and procedure before issuance of notice under section 148 by insertion of section 148A and section 148B of the Act. 6. Section 149 of the Act is also amended with effect from April 1,2021, where the time limit for issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act h....
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....ngly Notification No. 20 of 2021 dated March 31, 2021 [(2021) 432 ITR (St.) 141] and Notification No. 38 of 2021 dated April 27,2021 [(2021) 434 ITR (St.)11] directed and permitted the Assessing Officers to apply the provisions of the old regime for reassessment notices to be issued after coming into force of the Finance Act, 2021 with amendment with effect from April 1, 2021. 14. Hence the reassessment notices were issued between April 1, 2021, and 30th June 2021 under the provisions of section 148 of the old regime for A.Y.2013-14 to A.Y. 2017-18. 15. The assessee challenged such notices issued after 1^st April, 2021 for reassessment on the ground that such notices could not have been issued under the old regime in view of coming into force of amendment brought by the Finance Act, 2021. 16. Various High Courts allowed the writ petitions field by the assessee and quashed all the reassessment notices issued between April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021 under section 148 of the Act under the old regime on the ground that no such notices could have been issued under the provisions of section 147 to 151 of the Act which are not in existence after April 1, 2021 and there was no savi....
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....that some leeway must be shown in that regard which the High Courts could have done so. Therefore, instead of quashing and setting aside the reassessment notices issued under the unamended provision of IT Act, the High Courts ought to have passed an order construing the notices issued under unamended Act/unamended provision of the IT Act as those deemed to have been issued under section 148A of the IT Act as per the new provision section 148A and the Revenue ought to have been permitted to proceed further with the reassessment proceedings as per the substituted provisions of sections 147 to 151 of the IT Act as per the Finance Act, 2021, subject to compliance of all the procedural requirements and the defences, which may be available to the assessee under the substituted provisions of sections 147 to 151 of the IT Act and which may be available under the Finance Act, 2021 and in law. Therefore, we propose to modify the judgments and orders passed by the respective High Courts as under: (i)The respective impugned section 148 notices issued to the respective assessees shall be deemed to have been issued under section 148A of the IT Act as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021....
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....ticle 142 of the Constitution of India by holding that the present order shall govern, not only the impugned judgments and orders passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, but shall also be made applicable in respect of the similar judgments and orders passed by various High Courts across the country and therefore the present order shall be applicable to PAN INDIA. 10. In view of the above and for the reasons stated above, the present Appeals are ALLOWED IN PART. The impugned common judgments and orders passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in W.T. No. 524/2021 and other allied tax appeals/petitions, is/are hereby modified and substituted as under: - (i)The impugned section 148 notices issued to the respective assessees which were issued under unamended section 148 of the IT Act, which were the subject matter of writ petitions before the various respective 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 to be show-cause notices in terms of section 148A(b). The assessing officer shall, within thirty days from today provide to the respective ass....
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....all stand modified/substituted to the aforesaid extent only." D. COMPLIANCE OF DECISION IN CASE OF ASHISH AGARWAL 18. In compliance of the aforesaid directions issued by the Apex Court, the Central Board of Direct Taxes issued an Instruction on May 11, 2022, [(2022) 444 I.T.R. (St.) 43] which reads as under: "6.1 With respect of operation of new section 149 of the Act, the following may be seen: Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that the new law shall operate and all the defences available to assessees under section 149 of the new law and whatever rights are available to the Assessing Officer under the new law shall continue to be available. Sub-section (1) of new section 149 of the Act as amended by the Finance Act, 2021 (before its amendment by the Finance Act, 2022) reads as under:- 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 oth....
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....gime between July, 2022 and September, 2022 for Assessment Years 2013-2014 to 2017-2018. 20. The assessees again challenged these notices before several High Courts and again the notices were declared to be invalid on the ground that they were time barred and issued without appropriate sanction of the specified authority under the provisions to section 149 and 151 of the new regime. 21. Revenue, therefore, again approached the Hon'ble Supreme Court challenging the orders passed by various High Courts. During this period, the present group of petitions were filed and are kept pending to await the outcome of the pending matters before the Hon'ble Apex Court. 22. The Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal(supra) has now settled both the issues (i)whether the notices being time barred or (ii) whether notices were issued without appropriate sanction of the specified authority. E. APPLICATION OF DECISION IN CASE OF RAJEEV BANSAL 23. We are therefore, disposing off these batch of petitions in line of what is held by Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra) considering the facts of each case after considering the submissions made by both the sides. Facts o....
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..... xii)Being aggrieved by the impugned order as well as the impugned notice, the petitioner has preferred this petition. 27. In Special Civil Application No. 5688 of 2023 represented by learned advocate Mr. Manish J. Shah with learned advocate Mr. Jimmy Patel which pertains to Assessment Year 2014-2015, brief facts are as under: i)The petitioner is an individual having PAN APYPV0219J. The petitioner had not filed return of income for Assessment Year 2014-2015 as according to the petitioner she did not have any taxable income which exceeds the maximum amount chargeable to income. ii)Respondent therefore, issued notice under section 148 of the Act on 09.06.2021. iii)The petitioner vide letter dated 14.08.2021 raised preliminary objection against the issuance of notice under section 148 after filing the return of income on 07.08.2021 under protest in response to the notice issued under section 148 of the Act. iv)Respondent thereafter vide letter dated 26.08.2021 provided copy of reasons recorded stating that the petitioner had made transaction of sale of immovable property and received a sale consideration of Rs. 93,35,250/- and also the ....
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....notice under section 148 of the Act dated 30.07.2022 seeking to reopen the case of the petitioner for year under consideration. v)Being aggrieved by the impugned order as well as the impugned notice, the petitioner has preferred this petition. 29. In Special Civil Application No. 996 of 2023 represented by learned advocate Mr. B. S. Soparkar which pertains to Assessment Year 2017-2018, brief facts are as under: i)Petitioner is a private limited company. Petitioner filed its original return of income for Assessment Year 20172018 on 25.10.2017 declaring total income at Rs. 2,90,91,670/-. The return of income was processed and the case of the petitioner for selected for scrutiny. ii)The respondent thereafter issued notices under section 142(1) of the Act dated 21.01.2019 and 5.12.2019. iii)The petitioner replied to such notices vide letters dated 23.03.2019 and 9.12.2019 supplying various details called for. iv)The Assessing Officer vide assessment order dated 20.12.2019 framed the assessment under section 143(3) of the Act. v)The respondent thereafter issued notice under section 148 of the Act dated 30.06.2021. v....
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.... apply to the reassessment for the previous assessment years; (c)The relaxations provided undersection 3(1) of the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 apply "notwithstanding anything contained in the specified Act". Section 3(1), therefore, overrides the time limits for issuing a notice under section 148 read with section 149 of the Income-tax Act; (d)Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 does not extend the life of the old regime. It merely provides a relaxation for the completion or compliance of actions following the procedure laid down under the new regime; (e)The Finance Act, 2021 ((2021) 432 ITR (Stat) 52) substituted the old regime for reassessment with a new regime. The first proviso to section 149 does not expressly bar the application of Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. Section 3 of the Taxation and other Laws Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 applies to the entire Income-tax Act, including sections 149 and 151 of the new regime. Once the first proviso to section 149(1)(b) is read ....
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....effect of provisions of TOLA in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra) as under: "61. Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 is a legislation enacted by Parliament. The assessees have neither challenged the legislative competence of Parliament to enact Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 nor have they challenged the vires of the legislation. Section 3(1) of Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 provides for the relaxation of "any time limit" prescribed under the specified Acts for completion or compliance of "any proceeding or passing of any order or issuance of any sanction, intimation, notification, sanction, or approval". The expression "any" has been interpreted by this court to mean "all" or "every". (Lucknow Development Authority v. M.K. Gupta [(1994) 80 Comp Cas 714 (SC); (1994) 1 SCC 243.] ; Raj Kumar Shivhare v. Asst. Director, Directorate of Enforcement [(2010) 4 SCC 772; (2010) 3 SCC (Civ) 712.] ) The context in which the word "any" appears has to be construed after taking into consideration the scheme and the purpose of the enactment. (....
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....and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020, that is, March 20, 2020 to March 31, 2021. 64. When enacting a statute, the Legislature often endeavours to ensure that the provisions of one legislation do not conflict with the provisions of another legislation. [Interplay between Arbitration Agreements under Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 and Stamp Act, 1899, In re, (2024) 6 SCC 1; 2023 INSC 1066.] 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 Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 is to provide relaxation of the time for completion of any actions or proceedings falling for completion within a particular period. Thus, the two enactments operate in separate and distinct fields. This court must ensure that the provisions of the two enactments are interpreted harmoniously unless there is an irreconcilable conflict between them. (b) Reading Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 into section 149." 32. The effect of TOLA vis-a-vis the time limit prescribed for issuance....
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....ate of Andhra Pradesh [(1958) 9 STC 298 (SC); 1958 SCC OnLine SC 22.]) In the context of the issuance of a reassessment notice, the non obstante clause will 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 reassessment notices, which fall for completion between March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, has been extended till June 30, 2021. However, the non obstante clause under section 3(1) of the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 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 pandemi....
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....erests of the Revenue are not defeated because the Assessing Officer could not comply with the preconditions due to the difficulties that arose during the covid-19 pandemic. Section 3(1) of the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 relaxes the time limit for compliance with actions that fall for completion from March 20, 2020 to March 31, 2021. The Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 will accordingly extend the time limit for the grant of sanction by the authority specified under section 151. The test to determine whether Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 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 March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under section 151(i) has an extended time till June 30, 2021 to grant approval. 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 March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under sectio....
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....ices under the new regime, it impliedly waived the requirement of obtaining prior approval from the specified authorities under section 151 for section 148A(b) notices. It is well established that this court while exercising its jurisdiction under article 142, is not bound by the procedural requirements of law. (High Court Bar Association, Allahabad v. State of Uttar Pradesh [(2024) 6 SCC 267.]) 81. This court in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.] directed the Assessing Officers to "pass orders in terms of section 148A(d) in respect of each of the assessees concerned". Further, it directed the Assessing Officers to issue a notice under section 148 of the new regime "after following the procedure as required under section 148A". 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....
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....n 148 of the old regime. In Shree Chamundi Mopeds Ltd. v. Church of South India Trust Association [(1992) 75 Comp Cas 440 (SC); (1992) 3 SCC 1.], a three-judge Bench of this court explained the distinction between quashing an order and staying the operation of an order thus (page 448 of 75 Comp Cas): "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 order does not, however, lead to such a result. It only means that the order which has been stayed would not be operative from the date of the passing of the stay order and it does not mean that the said order has been wiped out from existence." The reassessment proceedings erroneously initiated by the Revenue under the old regime were not wiped out from existence. Consequently, the Revenue was not required to start the procedure of reassessment afresh after the decision of this court in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.] 36. The Hon'ble Apex Court after considering the effect of new provisions of section 148A which have been pressed into service in di....
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....Officer to the assessee. After the supply of the relevant material and information to the assessee, time begins to run for the assessees to respond to the show-cause notices. 107. The third proviso to section 149 allows the exclusion of time allowed for the assessees 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 Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.], this court provided two weeks to the assessees 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 April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021 till the supply of relevant information ....
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.... of issuance of the deemed notice and June 30, 2021. 109. If this court had not created the legal fiction and the original reassessment notices were validly issued according to the provisions of the new regime, the notices under section 148 of the new regime would have to be issued within the time limits extended by Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. As a corollary, the reassessment notices to be issued in pursuance of the deemed notices must also be within the time limit surviving under the Income-tax Act read with Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. This construction gives full effect to the legal fiction created in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.] and enables both the assessees and the Revenue to obtain the benefit of all consequences flowing from the fiction. (See State of A.P. v. A.P. Pensioners' Association [(2005) 13 SCC 161; 2006 SCC (L&S) 666. (This court observed that the "legal fiction undoubtedly is to be construed in such a manner so as to enable a person, for whose benefit such legal fiction has been created, to obtai....
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....and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under section 151(i) has extended time till June 30, 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 March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under section 151(2) has extended time till March 31, 2021 to grant approval; (f)The directions in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.] will extend to all the ninety thousand reassessment notices issued under the old regime during the period April 1, 2021 and June 30, 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 April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021 till the supply of relevant information and material by the Assessing Officers to the assessees in terms of the directions issued by this court in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.], and the period of two weeks allowed to the assessees to respond to the show-cause notices; and (h)The Assessing Officers were req....
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....f clause (b) of subsection (1) of this section or section 153A or section 153C, as the case may be], as they stood immediately before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2021: Provided further that the provisions of this sub-section shall not apply in a case, where a notice under section 153A, or section 153C read with section 153A, is required to be issued in relation to a search initiated under section 132 or books of account, other documents or any assets requisitioned under section 132A, on or before the 31st day of March, 2021: [Provided also that for cases referred to in clauses (i), (iii) and (iv) of Explanation 2 to section 148, where, (a) a search is initiated under section 132; or (b)a search under section 132 for which the last of authorisations is executed; or (c)requisition is made under section 132A, after the 15th day of March of any financial year and the period for issue of notice under section 148 expires on the 31st day of March of such financial year, a period of fifteen days shall be excluded for the purpose of computing the period of limitation as per this section and the notice issued under section 148 in....
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....ncipal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or Chief Commissioner or Director General, if more than three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year. [Provided that the period of three years for the purposes of clause (i) shall be computed after taking into account the period of limitation as excluded by the third or fourth or fifth provisos or extended by the sixth proviso to sub-section (1) of section 149.]" 41. The above provisions are analysed by Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra), in detail as extracted here-in-above. Therefore, the same are not analysed once again. H. SUBMISSIONS OF THE PETITIONERS 42. Learned advocates for the petitioners Mr. Hiren J. Trivedi, Mr. M.J. Shah, Mr. Tushar Hemani Senior Advocate with Ms. Vaibhavi K. Parikh and Mr. S.N. Soparkar Senior Advocate with Mr. B.S. Soparkar have mainly raised the following contentions on the issue of incorrect sanction granted by the authority as per the provisions of section 151 as it existed at the relevant time. 43. That reassessment notice under section 148 is admittedly issued between July and September, 2022. Therefore, the authority has to gra....
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....nd such notices ought to have been issued following time limit specified under section 151 of the new regime read with TOLA were applicable. It was therefore, submitted that though the notices under section 148 are issued pursuant to the directions of decision in case of Ashish Agarawal (supra), nonetheless notices are issued under section 148 of the new regime and as such, provision of section 151(ii) of the Act would be applicable which provides for sanction of specified authority namely, the Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or Chief Commissioner or Director General as such notices, are admittedly issued after three years. It was therefore, submitted that as the sanction is granted by the Principal Commissioner as per the provisions of section 151(i) of the Act, the impugned notices for reassessment is without jurisdiction as sanction by the Principal Chief Commissioner is a pre-condition for the Assessing Officer to assume jurisdiction under section 148 to issue the notice for reassessment. It was submitted that as held by the Hon'ble Apex Court, section 151 of the new regime does not prescribe the time limit within which the specified authority has to ....
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....as submitted that the impugned notice dated 30.06.2021 for Assessment Year 2017-2018 was issued under the old regime considering that TOLA is applicable. It was therefore, submitted that the respondent has issued notice dated 30.06.2021 under section 148 of the Act under the old regime read together with provisions of section 3(1) of TOLA. It was therefore, pointed out that in view of the decision of Hon'ble Apex Court in order to save the notice issued under the old regime under TOLA, the respondent was given direction to provide the material so as to comply with the provision of section 148A(b) of the Act under the new regime and accordingly, the respondent has provided the information within 30 days from the date of decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court and thereafter, the petitioners were granted time to file replies and after consideration of the replies, order under section 148A(d) of the Act was passed along with the impugned notice under section 148 of the Act. It was therefore submitted that but for the order of Hon'ble Apex Court while exercising jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, notice dated 30.06.2021 was invalid notice as held by various High Co....
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....on 151(i) is required to grant the approval till the extended time limit i.e. till June 30, 2021. It was therefore, pointed out that so far as the Assessment Years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 is concerned, time limit of three years from the end of relevant assessment year would fall within March 20, 2020 and March 31,2021 and therefore, approval of the specified authority as per provision of section 151(i) is rightly obtained by the respondent. 53. It was therefore, submitted by learned Senior Standing Counsel that the contention of the petitioners that date of notice under section 148 of the Act issued pursuant to the directions of decision in case of Ashish Agarwal (supra) is only to be considered ignoring the directions of the Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra) to the effect that when such notice is issued in relation to the notice which was issued under TOLA and therefore, notice dated 29.07.2022 issued between issued between July, 2022 and September, 2022 cannot be considered as notice issued beyond the period of three years. 54. It was therefore, submitted that there is a valid approval of the specified authority obtained by the respondent prior to passing of order....
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....end of assessment year falls between March 20, 2020 and March 31,2021 then the specified authority under section 151(2) of old regime which is equivalent to section 151(i) of the new regime except in place of Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, Principal Commissioner of Income Tax has to grant approval. It was pointed out that so far as specified authority under section 151(1) applicable to old regime which was amended with effect from 01.04.2021 being section 151(ii) are same i.e. Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax. It was further pointed out that if time period of four years from the end of assessment year falls within period of March 20, 2020 to March 31, 2021 covered by TOLA, the specified authority mentioned in section 151(2) of old regime has to grant sanction. It was therefore, submitted that such direction of the Hon'ble Apex Court is clearly applicable in facts of the case as notices under section 148 dated 30.06.2021 was issued after March 31, 2021 under TOLA during the extended period and therefore, there was no question of obtaining approval under the provisions of old regime in view of the directions issued by Apex Court in paragraph no. 114(d) of the decision in....
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....eafter directed the Revenue to pass order under section 148A(d) and issue notice under section 148 of the Act under the new regime. 4)The Hon'ble Apex Court at the time of issuance of directions also directed that such issuance of notices shall be governed by the time limit prescribed in section 149(1) which has been amended with effect from 1^st April, 2021 under the new regime. 5)Therefore, assessee raised objections that such notice issued under section 148 of the Act pursuant to the directions issued by Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Ashish Agarwal (supra) would be time barred and such notices also would be without valid approval of the specified authority as per provision of section 151 which has been amended with effect from 1^st April, 2021 under the new regime. 6)On challenge to such notices, various High Courts have held that such notices would be time barred considering the same being hit by the provisions of section 149 of the Act under the new regime and some of the High Courts also held that notices were invalid for want of approval by the specified authority as required under section 151(ii) of Act under the new regime, as such notices were admittedly issued b....
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....l (supra) and has considered the same along with the provisions of TOLA. 2)After considering the mandatory requirement of grant of sanction by the appropriate authority which is a precondition for the Assessing Officer to assume jurisdiction under section 148 of the Act to issue notice for reassessment, in paragraph no. 77, Hon'ble Apex Court referred to the provisions of TOLA wherein it is categorically observed that: "The test to determine whether Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 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 March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under section 151(i) has an extended time till June 30, 2021 to grant approval. 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 March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under section 151(2) has time till March 31, 2021 to grant approval. The time limit for section 151 of the old regime expires on March 31, 2021 because th....
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.... in view of facts of the case. 65. The alternative contention of the petitioner as to whether notices would be valid notice or invalid notice considering 'surviving time' between the date of the issuance of notices under TOLA and 30^th June, 2021 or not is required to be considered and for that each matter has to be considered separately on the basis of the facts of case considering the date of issuance of notices under section 148 under TOLA by the Revenue and thereafter date of supplying information to the assessee and date of passing of order under section 148A(d) and date of issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act so as to consider whether issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act is within 'surviving time' as per the direction of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra) or not. 66. So far as Assessment Years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 are concerned, the period of three years from the end of the assessment year would be over prior to 20.03.2020 and the period of six years would be over between 20.03.2020 and 30.06.2021. Therefore, the notices issued under section 148 of the Act under old regime between 01.04.2021 and 30.06.2021 as per TOLA, will be a....