AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (11) TMI 1079
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....epartment in pursuance of purported notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 including the reassessment proceedings under Section 147 of the Act, against the Petitioner for the Assessment Year 2016-17 is null and void-ab-initio, in view of the fact that none of purported notice issued under Section 148 dated 31.03.2021 as well as Notices dated 28.09.2021 and 13.01.2022 issued under Section 142(1) of the Act, were ever been served upon the Petitioner in order to comply the same. (b) For quashing and setting aside the Notice dated 10.02.2022 (Annexure-2 Series) issued by the Respondent No. 3 to the Petitioner sent through Speed Post, received by the Petitioner on 12.02.2022, whereby the Petitioner for the first time came to know about the issuance of aforesaid Notices under Section 148 of the Act as well as under Section 142(1) of the Act. (c) For quashing and setting aside the ex-parte Assessment Order passed under Section 147 read with Section 144 read with Section 144B of the Income-Tax Act, 1961, passed on 29.3.2022 on total income of Rs.1,32,21,110/-and its Demand Notice of Rs. 55,69,827/- dated 30.03.2022 (Annexure-10 & 10/1) by the Responde....
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....through the speed post and the entire proceedings initiated by the Respondent Department was in pursuant to the purported notice issued under Section 148 of the Act including the reassessment proceedings under Section 147 of the Act against the petitioner for the assessment year 2015-16 are null and void ab initio. 7. It is reiterated that none of the purported notices issued under Section 148 dated 31.03.2021 as well as Notices dated 28.09.2021 and 13.01.2022 issued under Section 142(1) of the Act, were ever been served upon the petitioner in order to comply the same. It is only through Notice dated 11.02.2022 sent through speed post which was received by the petitioner on 12.02.2022, whereby the petitioner for the first time came to know about the issuance of aforesaid Notices under Section 148 of the Act as well as under Section 142(1) of the Act and immediately thereafter, approached the Court by filing the writ petitions. 8. During the pendency of the writ petitions, ex-parte assessment order under Section 147 read with Section 144 read with Section 144B of the Act was passed by the respondent no.3 on 29.03.2022 on total income of Rs. 1,32,21,110/- raising a tax demand o....
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....19 mentioning the e-mail ID as [email protected]. However, after filing of the aforesaid returns for the assessment year, the petitioner came to know that the said e-mail ID which was created by the petitioner from Satyam Company, became inactive due to the fact that the said Satyam Company itself was closed and amalgamated with another company. As such, the petitioner furnished and uploaded another e-mail ID being [email protected] on 22.07.2020 for the purpose of communication, in his profile at the IT Portal and removed the aforesaid earlier e-mail ID being [email protected] from the IT portal and immediately thereafter on the same day i.e. 22.07.2020 at 1:54 p.m., the petitioner received a confirmatory e-mail from the Income Tax Department's e-mail ID being [email protected] at the petitioner's aforesaid new e-mail ID [email protected] confirming therein that the profile details of the petitioner has been updated successfully and the transaction id is 8705745824. 13. It was pursuant to the aforesaid change of e-mail ID for communication to the petitioner that the Income Tax Department thereafter started continuously sendi....
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....as available on the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs: Provided that the communication shall not be delivered or transmitted to the address mentioned in item (i) to (iv) where the addressee furnishes in writing any other address for the purposes of communication to the income-tax authority or any person authorised by such authority issuing the communication: Provided further ... ... ..." 16. It shall also be apt to reproduce Section 148 of the Act which reads as under:- "148. Issue of notice where income has escaped assessment. Before making the assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147, and subject to the provisions of section 148A, the Assessing Officer shall serve on the assessee a notice, along with a copy of the order passed, if required, under clause (d) of section 148A, requiring him to furnish within such period, as may be specified in such notice, a return of his income or the income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year corresponding to the relevant assessment year, in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such ot....
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....quisitioned under section 132 or section 132A in case of any other person on or after the 1st day of April, 2021, belongs to the assessee; or (iv) the Assessing Officer is satisfied, with the prior approval of Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, that any books of account or documents, seized or requisitioned under section 132 or section 132A in case of any other person on or after the 1st day of April, 2021, pertains or pertain to, or any information contained therein, relate to, the assessee, the Assessing Officer shall be deemed to have information which suggests that the income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment in the case of the assessee where the search is initiated or books of account, other documents or any assets are requisitioned or survey is conducted in the case of the assessee or money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article or thing or books of account or documents are seized or requisitioned in case of any other person. Explanation 3.-For the purposes of this section, specified authority means the specified authority referred to in section 151." 17. Section 282 of the Act reads as under:- "Service of notice generally. ....
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....e checked if any change in address before initiating a proceeding and that a valid service of notice under Section 148, given the fact that the valid service of notice under Section 148 is a condition precedent, lest it would be a jurisdictional error. 21. By now, it is well settled that under Section 148 of the Act, the issue of notice to the assessee and service of such notice upon the assessee are jurisdictional requirements that must be mandatorily complied with. They are not procedural requirements. 22. Equally it is settled proposition that for the Assessing Officer to exercise jurisdiction to reopen an assessment notice under Section 148(1) has to be mandatorily issued to the assessee. Further, the Assessing Officer cannot complete the reassessment without service of the notice so issued upon the assessee in accordance with Section 282(1) of the Act read with Order V Rule 12 and Order III Rule 6 of the Code of Civil Procedure. 23. The onus is on the Revenue to show that proper service of notice has been effected under Section 148 of the Act on the assessee or an agent duly empowered by him to accept notices on his behalf. In the present case, the Revenue has failed ....
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....eedings under Section 12A(1)(ac) (iii) of the Act of 1961 and as he was not served with any notice. Therefore, he would be entitled to file his reply and the Department would of course be entitled to examine the same and pass a fresh order thereafter. 10. In view of the above, Writ Petition is allowed and the order dated 16.01.2023 (Annexure P-5) is quashed and set aside. The Department would provide an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and they will also allow the petitioner to appear personally for the purpose and pass a speaking order independent of the order passed earlier by them on 16.01.2023. The same shall be done expeditiously provided the petitioner file his reply within a period of three weeks." 26. The aforesaid judgment in Munjal BCU Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship was thereafter followed by the High Court of Chhattisgarh in Nitesh Kumar Goyal v. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax, [2025] 173 taxmann.com 979. 27. In somewhat identical situation as obtaining in the instant case where the e-mail address had been changed by the assessee and thereafter the assessee continuously used the new profile in its latest income-tax returns and the iss....
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....ing before the Assessing Officer and in a way has contended that the said issue stands waived by the petitioner. In this context, it would be profitable to quote the conclusion of a judgment passed by the Delhi High Court, wherein the Division Bench had examined an Appeal from the ITAT (Income Tax Appellate Tribunal), which was challenged on similar grounds. The Division Bench after recording the contention of the parties, not only dismissed the appeal of the department, but also held in the said judgment CIT v Chetan Gupta [2015] 62 taxmann.com 249/[2016] 382 ITR 613 (Delhi), inter-alia that "46. To summarize the conclusions: (i) Under Section 148 of the Act, the issue of notice to the Assessee and service of such notice upon the Assessee are jurisdictional requirements that must be mandatorily complied with. They are not mere procedural requirements. (ii) For the AO to exercise jurisdiction to reopen an assessment, notice under section 148 (1) has to be mandatorily issued to the Assessee. Further the AO cannot complete the reassessment without service of the notice so issued upon the Assessee in accordance with Section 282 (1) of the Act read with Order....
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....edent for any proceeding including a proceeding u/s. 148A, is a valid service of notice, lest it would be a jurisdictional error. With regard to, the first notice dated 20th March 2022, it is the case of the petitioner that they had not received any notice dated 20th March 2022 and the revenue contended that it was served through speed post at the last known address. It is evident that though the respondents had the new address of the petitioner as evinced from the ITR filed on 10th January 2021, the respondents chose to send the notice to their old address. We also find no averment or proof of the service of notice dated 20th March 2022 on the petitioner in respondent's affidavit in reply dated 14th November 2022. The cascading effect of non-service was the petitioner did not get an opportunity to respond to the notice. Consequently, the notice dated 20th March 2022 and the proceedings thereafter are void. Apropos section 151(ii) of the Act the sanction from the PCCIT ought to have been taken when order was sought to be passed beyond the period of three years ie beyond 31st March 2022 on 5th April 2022. Consequently, the notice dated 20th March 2022 and order dated 5th April 2....