Search-based income tax assessment u/s 153C: limitation cannot be extended via section 153(6)(i); order quashed as time-barred.

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....The dominant issue was whether an assessment order passed pursuant to search-related proceedings could be sustained as being within limitation by invoking section 153(6)(i) of the Income-tax Act. The court held that, after the interim stay when only eleven days remained, limitation could at best stand extended by sixty days from the relevant Supreme Court decision date (or even from the date of its receipt by the assessing officer), which still rendered the order dated 30.04.2024 time-barred. It further held that section 153(6)(i) cannot be applied in isolation and, read with section 153, pertains to general assessments under sections 143/144, not section 153C search assessments with distinct statutory timelines. The assessment order was quashed and the writ petition was allowed. - HC....