TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (11) TMI 658
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....e grounds on which the notice dated 1st November 2022 issued under Section 153C is challenged is that the said notice is time barred. He further submits that if this Court finds that the notice is time barred then other contentions would become merely academic. 4. Mr. Jain submits that during the course of search proceedings conducted on 18th October 2019 under Section 132 of the Act on the Alankit Group of Companies (the searched person/party), certain materials/documents allegedly relating to the Petitioner (the other person/party) were found. The Assessing Officer of the searched person prepared a satisfaction note dated 24th June 2022 under Section 153C of the Act as it stood at the relevant time in respect of the Petitioner (other person) pertaining to Financial Years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2013-14. This correspondingly relates to Assessment Years 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2014-15. The satisfaction note so prepared was thereafter forwarded to the Assessing Officer of the Petitioner. 5. The Assessing Officer of the Petitioner, acting upon the satisfaction note so received, issued a notice dated 1st November 2022 under Section 153C of the Act for the Assessment year 2010-11. It i....
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....uisitioned, pertains or pertain to, or any information contained therein, relates to, a person other than the person referred to in section 153A, then, the books of account or documents or assets, seized or requisitioned shall be handed over to the Assessing Officer having jurisdiction over such other person and that Assessing Officer shall proceed against each such other person and issue notice and assess or reassess the income of the other person in accordance with the provisions of section 153A, if, that Assessing Officer is satisfied that the books of account or documents or assets seized or requisitioned have a bearing on the determination of the total income of such other person for six assessment years immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is conducted or requisition is made and] for the relevant assessment year or years referred to in sub-section (1) of section 153A : Provided that in case of such other person, the reference to the date of initiation of the search under section 132 or making of requisition under section 132A in the second proviso to sub-section (1) of section 153A shall be construed as reference to ....
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....quired to file returns, commenced only from the date the materials were forwarded to their A.Os. The Revenue, on the other hand, urged that the date (relatable to the period for which six years returns were to be filed by the assessee) was to be from the date when the search and seizure proceedings were conducted, in respect of the main assessee under Section 132." 14. The Hon'ble Supreme Court, in the said judgment, held that the time period for issuing notice under Section 153C should commence from the end of the Assessment Year in which the records are transferred to the Assessing Officer of the third party by the Assessing Officer of the searched party. The relevant portion of the judgment which is reproduced hereunder:- "9. It is evident on a plain interpretation of Section 153C(1) that the Parliamentary intent to enact the proviso was to cater not merely to the question of abatement but also with regard to the date from which the six year period was to be reckoned, in respect of which the returns were to be filed by the third party (whose premises are not searched and in respect of whom the specific provision under Section 153-C was enacted. The revenue argued tha....
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.... of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Jasjit Singh (supra). Thereafter, the Hon'ble Delhi High Court concluded that the period of limitation for issuing notice under Section 153C shall commence from the end of the Assessment Year in which records are transferred to the Assessing Officer of the third party by the Assessing Officer of searched party. The relevant portion of the judgment is reproduced hereunder:- "119. We thus record our conclusions as follows: ... D. The First Proviso to section 153C introduces a legal fiction on the basis of which the commencement date for computation of the six year or the ten year block is deemed to be the date of receipt of books of accounts by the jurisdictional AO. The identification of the starting block for the purposes of computation of the six and the ten year period is governed by the First Proviso to Section 153C, which significantly shifts the reference point spoken of in section 153A(1), while defining the point from which the period of the "relevant assessment year" is to be calculated, to the date of receipt of the books of accounts, documents or assets seized by the jurisdictional AO of the non-searc....