TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 1272
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....nt of interest towards purchase on supplier credit' as an external commercial borrowing and thereby calculating at its arm's length price. The authorities ought to have appreciated that the transaction undertaken by the Appellant is a trade payable and accordingly at arm's length price. 2. Without prejudice, the ld. AO and the Ld. TPO, under the directions of the Hon'ble DRP, erred in computing the amount of transfer pricing adjustment. Payment for consultancy services availed 3. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the Id. AO and the Ld. TPO, under the directions of the Hon'ble DRP, erred in disregarding the Appellant's benchmarking analysis, the documentation maintained thereunder and determining the arm's length price of the transaction of 'Payment for consultancy services availed' as Nil based on 'Other Method" purely on conjectures and surmises, without bringing on record any comparable instances in support thereof. Payment of Interest on NCDs 4. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the Id. AO and the Ld. TPO, under the directions of the Hon'ble DRP, err....
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....proceedings under Section 270A of the Act. The above grounds are independent and without prejudice to one another. The Appellant craves leave to add, amend, vary, omit or substitute any of the aforesaid grounds of appeal at any time before or at the time of hearing of appeal, so as to enable the Hon'ble Income-tax Appellate Tribunal to decide this appeal according to law." ITA.No.474/Hyd./2022 - A.Y. 2018-2019 : 4. The assessee has raised the following grounds : 1. "On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the assessment proceedings in the Appellant's case for AY 2018-19 are barred by limitation and accordingly the final assessment order dated 27 July 2022 ought to be quashed in-limine. 2. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the final assessment order dated 27 July 2022 ought to be quashed in- limine as the same is without jurisdiction because it has been passed without following the mandatory directions of the Hon'ble Dispute Resolution Panel ('DRP'). Payment of interest towards purchase on supplier credit 3. On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the Id. AO and ....
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.... circumstances of the case and in law, the Id. AO erred in Initiating penalty proceedings under Section 270A of the Act. The above grounds are independent and without prejudice to one another. The Appellant craves leave to add, amend, vary, omit or substitute any of the aforesaid grounds of appeal at any time before or at the time of hearing of appeal, so as to enable the Hon'ble Income- tax Appellate Tribunal to decide this appeal according to law." 5. The assessee has also raised an additional ground in ITA.No.125/Hyd./2022 for the assessment year 2017- 2018 by filing an application under Rule 11 of ITAT Rules, 1963. The additional ground raised by the assessee reads as under: Additional Ground No. 1: On the facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the final assessment order dated 26" February 2022 is passed beyond the limitation period prescribed by section 153 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ('the Act) and accordingly the final assessment order dated 26th February 2022 is bad in law and ought to be quashed in- limine. The Appellant craves leave to add, amend, delete, rectify, substitute and modify any of the aforesaid grounds of....
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....ppmeyer Ltd., vs., ACIT, International Taxation [2023] 457 ITR 161 (Bombay), the assessment order passed by Assessing Officer is invalid and liable to be quashed. Thus, the Learned Counsel for the Assessee has submitted that the overall limitation for passing the assessment order cannot be exceeded as provided u/sec. 153(1) read with sub-sec.(4) of said Section and the limitation as provided u/sec.144C(13) is only a restriction on the Assessing Officer to pass the final order within one month from the receipt of the Directions of the DRP and not enlarging the limitation which is provided u/sec.153 of the Act. The Hon'ble Madras High Court has held that provisions u/sec. 144C and 153C are not mutually exclusive as both contains the provisions relating to sec.92CA and are inter- dependent and overlapping. Similar view has been taken by the Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Shelf Drilling Ron Tappmeyer Ltd., vs., ACIT, International Taxation (supra) and held that the limitation prescribed u/sec. 153 of the Act would prevail over and above the assessment time limit prescribed u/sec. 144C of the Act. 9. On the other hand, learned DR has submitted that the provisions of....
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....the Larger Bench of the Supreme Court, this issue may be kept open. She has further submitted that the limitation was also extended by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in case of suo motu Cognizance for Extension of Limitation reported in Re 441 ITR 722 (SC) and, therefore, as per the Judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court the limitation was extended up-to the end of 2022 and further period of 90 days was already granted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The learned DR has thus, submitted that in view of Judgment of Hon'ble Supreme Court, the assessment order passed for the assessment year 2017-2018 is within the period of limitation. 10. We have considered the rival submissions as well as the relevant material on record. In normal course the limitation for passing the assessment order was available for the assessment year 2017-2018 up-to 31.12.2019. However, since there was a reference u/sec.92CA of the Act, the time period for completing the assessment gets extended up-to 31.12.2020. Further, due to the Covid-2019 pandemic the Government has notified the TOLA whereby the time period was extended up-to 30.09.2021 vide Notification dated 25.06.2021. Therefore, by considering the....
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.... till further orders as ordered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) 3 of 2020 vide order dated 27th April 2021. Thus, as on date, the Orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court apply to appeals, reviews, revisions etc., and not to original adjudication. (iii) Various Orders and extensions passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court would apply only to acts and actions which are in nature of judicial, including quasi-judicial exercise of power and discretion. Even under this category, Hon'ble Supreme Court Order, applies only to a lis which needs to be pursued within a time frame fixed by the respective statutes. (iv) Wherever proceedings are pending, judicial or quasi-judicial which requires to be heard and disposed off, cannot come to a standstill by virtue of these extension orders. Those cases need to be adjudicated or disposed off either physically or through the virtual mode based on the prevailing policies and practices besides instructions if any. (v) The following actions such as scrutiny of returns, issuance of summons, search, enquiry or investigations and even consequential arrest in accordance with GST law would not....
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....n or rectification of any order is required to be undertaken, and is not applicable to any other proceedings under GST Laws." 11. Accordingly, we do not find any merits in the arguments of the learned DR that the limitation for passing the assessment order was extended by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. We further note that even the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India vs., Ashish Agarwal [2022] 444 ITR 1 (SC) and Union of India & Ors. vs. Rajeev Bansal [2024] 469 ITR 46 (SC) has considered the extension of limitation only to the extent of TOLA Notification. We further note that an identical issue has been considered by this Tribunal in the case of Aveva Solutions India LLP, Hyderabad vs., ITO, Ward-8(1), Hyderabad in ITA. No.1170/Hyd./2024 vide Order dated 19.11.2025 in Paras-7 to 14 as under : "7. We have considered the rival submissions as well as relevant material on record. In the case in hand, the assessee has challenged the validity of the assessment order passed u/sec. 143(3) r.w.s. 144C(13) of the Act dated 18.10.2024 being barred by limitation as provided u/ sec. 153 of the Act. At the outset, it is noted that the limitation for passing the a....
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.... or section 262 or section 263 or section 264 is to be given by the Assessing Officer [or the Transfer Pricing Officer, as the case may be], wholly or partly, otherwise than by making a fresh assessment or reassessment [or fresh order under section 92CA, as the case may be], such effect shall be given within a period of three months from the end of the month in which order under section 250 or section 254 or section 260 or section 262 is received by the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, as the case may be, the order under section 263 or section 264 is passed by the Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, as the case may be. Provided that where it is not possible for the Assessing Officer [or the Transfer Pricing Officer, as the case may be,] to give effect to such order within the aforesaid period, for reasons beyond his control, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner on receipt of such request in writing from the Assessing Officer [or the Transfer Pricing Officer, as the case may be], if satisfied, may allow an additional period of six months to give effec....
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....f Section 153 are excluded by the non-obstante clause in section 144C(13) and hence the proceedings are not barred by limitation. Per contra, it has been contended by the learned senior counsels appearing for the respondent(s)/assessee that the outer time limit under Section 153 is applicable to every proceedings on remand and the department having slept over the issue for several years, cannot now redo the proceedings afresh, after certain rights have vested with the assessee. Even if specific provisions are not there to deal with this situation, the proceedings must be concluded within a reasonable time and hence the impugned proceedings are liable to be struck down and rightly done so by the learned Judge. 19. Admittedly, the facts including the dates are not under dispute. As regards the appeal in W.A.No.1854 of 2021, even though the remand was on 24-1-2013 and the assessee had received the order on 8-2-2013, the first notice by the DRP was issued on 19-2-2014 and the first hearing in the Chennai office was on 10-3-2014. Therefore, it is lucid that the DRP had the knowledge of the order before 19-2-2014. The matter was heard on various dates in Chennai office and writt....
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.... to be concluded within 33 months. In the additional 12 months, the draft order is to be passed, the objections have to be filed, the DRP has to issue the directions and the final order is to be passed. The provisions under section 144C and section 153 are not mutually exclusive as both contain provisions relating to Section 92CA and are inter-dependant and overlapping. On remand, prior to amendment as per Section 153 (2A), the Assessing officer is given 12 months to pass a fresh assessment order. Therefore, it is incumbent on him to do so, irrespective of the fact that DRP has completed the hearing and issued the directions or not. As rightly held by the learned judge, we are of the view that the DRP ought to have concluded the proceedings within 9 months from the date of receipt of the Tribunal's order, when it had issued a notice on 19-2-2014 and conducted the hearing as early as on 10-3-2014 and on several dates. The DRP at Chennai, in fact ought to have passed orders before 19-11-2014, even if the date of receipt of the notice is taken as 19-2-2014. In that event, the assessing officer ought to have passed the order before 31-12-2014 or at the latest before 31-3-2015 consi....
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....possible, effect should be given to both. This is the essence of the rule of "harmonious construction". (4) The courts have also to keep in mind that an interpretation which reduces one of the provisions as a "dead letter" or "useless lumber" is not harmonious construction. (5) To harmonise is not to destroy any statutory provision or to render it otiose." (ii) CIT v. Hindustan Bulk Carriers [2003] 126 Taxman 321/259 ITR 449: "16. The courts will have to reject that construction which will defeat the plain intention of the legislature even though there may be some in exactitude in the language used. (See Salmon v. Duncombe [(1886) 11 AC 627 : 55 LJPC 69 : 55 LT 446 (PC)] AC at p. 634, Curtis v. Stovin [(1889) 22 QBD 513 : 58 LJQB 174 : 60 LT 772 (CA)] referred to in S. Teja Singh case [AIR 1959 SC 352 : (1959) 35 ITR 408]). 18. The statute must be read as a whole and one provision of the Act should be construed with reference to other provisions in the same Act so as to make a consistent enactment of the whole statute. 19. The court must ascertain the intention of the legislature by directing its attention not merely to the clau....
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.... proceedings as expeditiously as possible and the authority need not wait for the last date to pass the orders. The limitation prescribed under the statute is for the assessing officer and therefore, it is his duty to pass order in time irrespective of whether the directions are received from DRP or not. As held by us above, the DRP will have no authority to issue directions after nine months and a further period of one month as per section 144EUR (13) and three months under section 153 (2A) is available, within which period no orders have been passed in the present cases. The reference made by the learned senior counsels on the judgments in Nokia India (P.) Ltd. (supra) and Vedanta Ltd. (Supra) is well founded. The timeline given under the Act is to be strictly followed. 24. Insofar as the challenge to the show cause notice issued is concerned, though generally, the High Court will be circumspected to interfere at the stage of show cause notice, the law on the point is well settled with exceptions carved in the following cases; a. when the notice is issued beyond the period of limitation, b. when the notice is without authority, c. when notice i....
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.... withhold the payment of the tax so collected. If a timely assessment is completed, the dues of the State can be conveniently ascertained and collected. Delay in completion of assessment often creates problems. The assessee would be required to keep up all the evidence in support of his transactions. Where evidence is necessary, with the lapse of time, there is scope for its being lost. Oral evidence as and when required to be produced by the assessing authority may not be available if a long period intervenes between the transactions and the consideration of the matter by the assessing authority. Long delay thus is not in the interest of either the assessee or the State. In view of the fact that a period of limitation has been prescribed for bringing the escaped turnover into the net of taxation, such an eventuality cannot be grappled with appropriately unless timely assessment is completed. In several taxing statutes, even in a situation like this, where assessment under Section 11(3) or 28(3) of the respective Acts is contemplated, a period of limitation is provided. Until by statute, such a limitation is provided, it is proper for the State Governments to require, by statutory ....
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....in terms of the said Act. In any event, the same should not exceed the period of five years. The view of the High Court, thus, cannot be said to be unreasonable. Reasonable period, keeping in view the discussions made hereinbefore, must be found out from the statutory scheme. As indicated hereinbefore, maximum period of limitation provided for in sub-section (6) of Section 11 of the Act is five years. 21. In S.B. Gurbaksh Singh v. Union of India [(1976) 2 SCC 181 : 1976 SCC (Tax) 177 : (1976) 37 STC 425] Untwalia, J., speaking for the Bench, opined : (SCC p. 188, para 15) "15. Apropos the fourth and the last submission of the appellant, suffice it to say that even assuming that the revisional power cannot be exercised suo motu after an unduly long delay, on the facts of this case it is plain that it was not so done. Within a few months of the passing of the appellate order by the Assistant Commissioner, the Commissioner proceeded to revise and revised the said order. There was no undue or unreasonable delay made by the Commissioner. It may be stated here that an appeal has to be filed by an assessee within the prescribed time and so also a time-limit has been pres....
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....to pass orders within the stipulated time, (d) In matter involving transfer pricing, upon remand to DRP, the Assessing officer is to pass a denova draft order and the entire proceedings as in the original assessment, would have to be completed within 12 months, as the very purpose of extension is to ensure that orders are passed within the extended period, as otherwise the extension becomes meaningless. (e) The outer time limit of 33 months in case of reference to TPO under Section 153, would not refer to draft order, but only to final order and hence, the entire proceedings would have to be concluded within the time limits prescribed, (f) The non-obstante clause would not exclude the operation of Section 153 as a whole. It only implies that irrespective of availability of larger time to conclude the proceedings, final orders are to be passed within one month in line with the scheme of the Act, (g) When no period of limitation is prescribed, orders are to be passed within a reasonable time, which in any case cannot be beyond 3 years. However, when the statute prescribes a particular period within which orders are to be passed, then such period, i....
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....tion 144C of the Act is applicable in the case of an eligible assessee. If Mr. Suresh Kumar was correct, then in our view, it would have been specifically so provided in section 153 of the Act. We would agree with Mr. Mistri that wherever the legislature intended extra time to be provided, it is expressly provided in section 153 of the Act. Sub-section (3) of section 153 of the Act also applies to fresh order under section 92 CA of the Act being passed in pursuance to an order under section 254 of the Act. Sub-section (4) of section 153 of the Act specifically provides that notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1), (1-A), (2), (3) and (3-A) of the Act, where a reference under sub-section (1) of section 92 CA of the Act is made during the course of the proceeding for assessment or re-assessment, the period available for completion of assessment or re- assessment, as the case may be, under the said sub-sections (1), (1-A), (2), (3) and (3-A) of the Act shall be extended by twelve months. 25. Moreover, Explanation-1 below section 153 of the Act also provides for the periods which have to be excluded while computing the twelve months period mentioned in section 1....
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....he Act. This is because, the procedure under section 144C(1) of the Act also has to be followed by the Assessing Officer only if he proposes to make any variation which is prejudicial to the interest of the eligible assessee. If the Assessing Officer did not wish to make any variation which is prejudicial to the interest of the eligible assessee, he need not go through the procedure prescribed under section 144C.of the Act. 29. In our view, the assessment has to be concluded within twelve months as provided in section 153(3) of the Act when there has been remand to the AO by the ITAT under section 254 of the Act. Within this twelve months prescribed, the AO has to ensure that the entire procedure prescribed under section 144C is completed and pass a final assessment order. For this the AO has to be prompt in passing an order contemplated under section 144C(1) of the Act and not wait to be reminded like in this case and still take almost two years to start the process. Sub-section (13) of section 144C provides that an assessment officer shall, upon receipt of the directions, issued under sub-section (5), in conformity with the directions complete, notwithstanding anything t....
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....a), we hold that the assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer on 18.10.2024 is barred by limitation and consequently, the same is liable to be quashed. We order accordingly. 12. Since the issue is pending adjudication before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of ACIT-[International Taxation] vs., Shelf Drilling Ron Tappmeyer Ltd., [2025] 177 taxmann.com 262 (SC) and the first attempt to resolve the dispute by the Hon'ble Supreme Court is not successful due to divergent views of the Division Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and, therefore, the matter is required to be resolved by the Larger Bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Since the matter is yet to be resolved by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, therefore, we allow the parties to get this appeal revived if the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court on this issue necessitates modification of this order. 13. The Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of Kotha Kantaiah vs., Income Tax Officer in WP.No.344 of 2025 vide order dated 24.04.2025 while dealing with the issue of validity of the notice issued u/sec. 148 issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer [in short "JAO"....
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....erves to be and are accordingly set aside/quashed. As a consequence, all the impugned orders getting quashed, the consequential orders passed by the respondent-Department pursuant to the notices issued under Section 147 and 148 would also get quashed and it is ordered accordingly. The reason we are quashing the consequential order is on the principles that when the initiation of the proceedings itself was procedurally wrong, the subsequent orders also gets nullified automatically. 37. The preliminary objection raised by the petitioner is sustained and all these writ petitions stands allowed on this very jurisdictional issue. Since the impugned notices and orders are getting quashed on the point of jurisdiction, we are not inclined to proceed further and decide the other issues raised by the petitioner which stands reserved to be raised and contended in an appropriate proceedings. 38. Since the Hon'ble Supreme Court had, in the case of Ashish Agarwal, supra, as a one-time measure exercising the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, permitted the Revenue to proceed under the substituted provisions, and this Court allowing the petitions only on t....