TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 1203
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....ion 148 are bad in law because Respondent No.1 has not obtained appropriate prior approval/sanction of the Specified Authority as mandated under the provisions of section 151. It is in this light that the Petitioner seeks the following relief: "(a) that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorari or a Writ in the nature of Certiorari or any other appropriate Writ, Order or direction, calling for the records of the Petitioner's case and after going into the legality and propriety thereof, to quash and set aside the notice dated 20.04.2021 u/s 148 [now deemed as notice u/s 148A(b)] (Exhibit B), issue letter dated 21.05.2022 (Exhibit E2), order dated 18.08.2022 passed under section 148A(d) (Exhibit H) and the notice issued under section 148 of the Act dated 23.08.2022 (Exhibit I) and declare para 6 and 7 of the CBDT instruction no. 1 of 2022 dated 11.05.2022 (Exhibit E1) as ultra-vires the Act." 4. Initially, Respondent No.1 had issued a notice under section 148 (under the erstwhile law of re-assessment) on 20.04.2021 [Exhibit B of the Petition] for A.Y. 2017-18. Subsequently, because of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case ....
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....his regard, the Petitioner has drawn our attention to the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India vs. Rajeev Bansal [2024] 167 taxmann.com 70 (SC) : [2024] 301 Taxman 238 (SC) : [2024] 469 ITR 46 (SC). The Hon'ble Supreme Court, while dealing with the issue of approval of the specified authority in terms of Section 151 of the Act, made the following observations: "73. Section 151 imposes a check upon the power of the Revenue to reopen assessments. The provision imposes a responsibility on the Revenue to ensure that it obtains the sanction of the specified authority before issuing a notice under section 148. The purpose behind this procedural check is to save the assessees from harassment resulting from the mechanical reopening of assessments. (Sri Krishna Pvt. Ltd v. ITO [(1996) 221 ITR 538 (SC); (1996) 9 SCC 534.] A table representing the prescription under the old and new regime is set out below: Regime Time limits Specified authority Section 151(2) of the old regime Before expiry of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year Joint Commissioner Section 151(1) of the old regime After expiry of four years fro....
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.... (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 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 years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year. Thus, non-compliance by the Assessing Officer with the strict time limits prescribed under section 151 affects their jurisdiction to issue a notice under section 148. 77. Parliament enacted Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 to e....
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....formation that suggests that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment. It must be noted that this requirement has been deleted by the Finance Act, 2022 ([2022] 442 ITR (Stat) 91) [ Section 45, Finance Act, 2022.] ; (c) Section 148A(d) - to pass an order deciding whether or not it is a fit case for issuing a notice under section 148; and (d) Section 148 - to issue a reassessment notice. 80. In Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.], this court directed that section 148 notices which were challenged before various High Courts "shall be deemed to have been issued under section 148A of the Income-tax Act as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021 ((2021) 432 ITR (Stat) 52) and construed or treated to be show-cause notices in terms of section 148A(b)". Further, this court dispensed with the requirement of conducting any enquiry with the prior approval of the specified authority under section 148A(a). Under section 148A(b), an Assessing Officer was required to obtain prior approval from the specified authority before issuing a show-cause notice. When this court deemed the section 148 notices under the old regime....
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....e before passing an order under Section 148A(d) or for issuing a notice under Section 148. (b) Under the new regime, if income escaping assessment is more than Rupees 50 lakhs, a reassessment notice could be issued after the expiry of three years from the end of the relevant previous year only after obtaining the prior approval of the Principal Chief Commissioner or the Principal Director General or the Chief Commissioner or the Director General. (c) Section 151(ii) of the new regime prescribes an approval of a higher authority, if more than three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year. Thus, non-compliance by the assessing officer with the strict time limits prescribed under section 151 vitiates their jurisdiction to issue a notice under section 148. (d) Grant of sanction by the specified authority is a precondition for the assessing officer to assume jurisdiction under section 148 to issue a reassessment notice. 9. In the present case, the period of three years from the end of the A.Y. 2017-18 fell for completion on 31st March 2021. As the expiry date fell during the time period of 20th March 2020 and 31st March 2021, under S....