AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 163
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....Agarwal in Civil Appeal No. 3005/2022 dated 04.05.2022, the said notice was deemed to have been issued as show cause notice u/s 148A(b) of the Act and consequently, after receiving the submission from the assessee, order u/s 148A(d) was passed on dated 29.7.2022 and notice u/s 148 was issued on 29.07.2022 after obtaining the approval u/s 151 of the Act, copy of the same is placed at PB pages13-17. Thereafter, the re-assessment proceedings were completed, and order was passed u/s 147 r.w.s. 144B of the Act wherein additions of Rs. 50.00 lacs u/s 68 as unexplained cash credits and Rs. 1,25,000/- as unexplained expenditure u/s 69C for obtaining such loan were made in the hands of the assessee. Against the said order an appeal was filed before the Ld. CIT(A) who dismissed the appeal of the assessee. 3. Aggrieved by the said order, assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal wherein the assessee has taken following grounds of appeal: "1. That the learned Commissioner Income Tax (Appeals) has grossly erred both in law and on facts in sustaining an assessment under section 144/148 of the Act at an income of Rs.1,48,65,460/- as against returned income of Rs. 97,40,460/-. ....
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....tures and relying on materials/ statements obtained behind the back of assessee appellant which was never confronted during the course of assessment proceedings and hence, the addition so sustained made is unsustainable and liable to be deleted. 4. That the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has further erred in sustaining alleged commission to obtain accommodation entry of a sum of Rs. 1, 25, 000/-, which addition is completely based on suspicion and surmises and contrary to material available on record and thus, is misplaced in law and should have been deleted, as such. 5. That the learned Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) has erred in law and on facts in sustaining additions in the hands of assessee, without giving any fair and proper opportunity of being heard to the appellant and further, erred in sustaining the aforesaid addition purely on assumptions, presumptions, surmises and conjectures and hence, the addition so sustained made is unsustainable and liable to be deleted." 4. Heard both the parties at length and perused the material available on record. It is seen that in the instant case, the appeal of the assessee was related to Assessmen....
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....alf of the Revenue: a. Parliament enacted TOLA as a free-standing legislation to provide relief and relaxation to both the assesses and the Revenue during the time of COVID-19. TOLA seeks to relax actions and proceedings that could not be completed or complied with within the original time limits specified under the Income Tax Act; b. Section 149 of the new regime provides three crucial benefits to the assesses: (i) the four-year time limit for all situations has been reduced to three years; (ii) the first proviso to Section 149 ensures that re-assessment for previous assessment years cannot be undertaken beyond six years; and (iii) the monetary threshold of Rupees fifty lakhs will apply to the reassessment for previous assessment years; c. The relaxations provided under Section 3(1) of TOLA 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. TOLA 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....
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....s have fallen on or after 1st April, 2021, therefore, both the notice deserves to be dropped in view of the admission made by the Revenue before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Further, for Assessment Year 2015-16, no notice u/s 148 of the Act could be issued after the expiring of six years from the end of the relevant assessment year which limitation expired on 31st March, 2022. As the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Rajiv Bansal (supra) has observed that Tola is not applicable for Asst. Year 2015-16, therefore, even otherwise under the old provisions of section 149 of the Act, the notice issued u/s 148 of the Act for Asst. Year 2015-16 on 25/07/2022 is barred by limitation. In view of these facts, the notice issued u/s 148 of the Act dated 25/07/2022 is hereby quashed. Accordingly, legal ground taken by the assessee is allowed." 6. Further the Co-ordinate Bench of the ITAT, 'B' Bench in the case of Guru Charan Singh vs. ITO in ITA No. 2846/Del/2025 & 2847/Del/2025 has made the following observations: "2. We notice during the course of hearing that there arises the first and foremost issue of validity of the impugned reopening(s) itself set into motion by the learned A....
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....he reassessment for the AY 2015-16 was framed by the AO on 31.5.2023. The reassessment was challenged before the Ld. CIT(Appeals) and the Ld. CIT(Appeals) dismissed the appeal for non-prosecution by the assessee. 6. In the case of Make My Trip (India) Pvt. Ltd. Vs. DCIT (supra) the Jurisdictional High Court considered whether reassessment completed for the AY 2015-16 based on a notice issued u/s 148 and the viz. a viz. the applicability of the provisions of TOLA and based on the concession of the Revenue that for the AY 2015-16 all the notices issued on or after 1.4.2021 will have to be dropped as they will not fall for completion during the period prescribed under the TOLA, held that the notice issued under 148 was beyond the period of limitation and consequently the same is liable to be set aside. 7. Further the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Deepak Steel & Power Ltd. Vs. CBDT & Others (supra) quashed the notices issued u/s 148 observing as under: - "2. These appeals arise from 'the order passed by the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack in Writ Petition (C) Nos. 2446 of 2823, 2543 of 2023 dated 1.2.2023 and 2544 of 2023 dated 10.02.2023 respe....