TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 1949
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....and other premises on 20.04.2017. Due to centralization order under Section 127 of the Act passed by the Ld. PCIT, Delhi-22, New Delhi vide order dated 02.11.2018. Jurisdiction was transferred to this Circle. Consequent to search action in this case, being the search year, a notice under Section 153A of the Act was issued on 05.09.2019 requiring the assessee to file the return of his income within 15 days from the service of this notice. The assessee vide letter dated 25.09.2019, raised objection for validity of the notice under Section 153A and jurisdiction of the Ld. AO and submitted that the return filed by the assessee company on 26.03.2018 may be treated as the return filed in response to notice under Section 153A of the Act. In this letter, assessee also submitted that inspite of numerous requests both verbal and written, the Investigation Wing, Rajasthan and previous Assessing Officers had not provided documents related to search i.e. complete Panchnama along with all the annexures, statements recorded, material seized, warrant of authorization, documents for collection of digital evidences etc. Vide letter dated 05.10.2019 the assessee was informed that though copies of all....
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....and on facts. 2. On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred, both on facts and in law, in rejecting the contention of the assessee that the order passed by the learned AO under section 153Ar.w.s 143(3) is illegal and bad in law as the same has been passed without having valid jurisdiction. 3. On the facts and circumstances of the case, the leamed CIT(A) has erred, both on facts and in law, in rejecting the contention of the assessee that the order passed by the AO under section 153A r.w.s. 143(3) is bad and liable to be quashed as the same has been framed consequent to the search which was initiated under the wrong pretext. 4. On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred, both on facts and in law, in rejecting the contention of the assessee that the order passed by the learned AO under section 153A r.w.s 143(3) is bad and liable to be quashed as the same has been framed consequent to a search which itself was unlawful and invalid in the eyes of law. 5. On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred, both on facts and in law, in rejecting the contention of the asse....
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....tion of the circular No. 19/2019 issued by CBDT which mandates that no order shall be passed without there being valid Document Identification Number (DIN) 11.(i) On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred both on facts and in law in confirming the addition of Rs. 65,35,57,000/- made by the AO as undisclosed income on the basis of documents found during the course of search. (ii) That the addition has been confirmed rejecting the detailed submission and explanation brought on records by the assessee. 12. (i) On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred both on facts and in law in confirming the addition of Rs. 3,60,92,000/- made by the AO as undisclosed income on the basis of documents found during the course of search. (ii) That the addition has been confirmed rejecting the detailed submission and explanation brought on records by the assessee. 13. On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred both on facts and in law in rejecting the contention of the assessee that the addition has been made by misinterpreting the statements recorded on oath during the....
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....granted in verbatim same manner and Hon'ble Tribunal quashed the Assessment Order. 6. Further reliance was placed upon following judicial pronouncements to support the contention of assessed: ⮚ PR. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX-15 VERSUS SHIV KUMAR NAYYAR, 2024 (6) TMI 29-DELHI HIGH COURT, Dated .- May 15, 2024 ⮚ VEENA SINGH VERSUS ACIT CENTRAL CIRCLE-25, DELHI, 2024 (4) TMI 1025 - ITAT DELHI, Dated. - April 24, 2024 ⮚ ARCH PHARMALABS LTD. VERSUS ACIT CC-32, MUMBAI AND (VICE-VERSA) AND M/S ARCH IMPEX P. LTD. VERSUS ACIT CC-32, MUMBAI, 2021 (4) TMI 533 ITAT MUMBAI, Dated .- April 7, 2021 ⮚ SANJAY DUGGAL, KRITIKA TALWAR, ARUN DUGGAL, RATNA TALWAR, C/O KAPIL GOEL, ADV, NEHA DUGGAL, NANY DUGGAL, POONAM DUGGAL, NEERU DUGGAL, RAJNISH TALWAR, RATNASHRI BUILDTECH PVT. LTD, DUGGAL ESTATE PVT. LTD, DUGGAL & SONS BUILDWELL P. LTD., VERSUS ACIT, CENTRAL CIRCLE-4, NEW DELHI, 2021 (1) TMI 909-ITAT DELHI, Dated .- January 19, 20211 ⮚M/S. INFOLANCE SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD. VERSUS ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, CENTRAL CIRCLE-13, NEW DELHI. AND DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, CENTRAL CIRCLE-....
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....thing but mechanical one and the approving authority has exercised symbolic powers vested under s. 153D of the Act. Apart from the same, a single approval has been granted for seven Assessment Years in total. 8 The Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court in the case of Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. Shiv Kumar Nayyar (supra) held as under :- "11. A plain reading of the aforesaid provision evinces an uncontrived position of law that the approval under Section 153D of the Act has to be granted for "each assessment year" referred to in clause (b) of subsection (1) of Section 153A of the Act. It is beneficial to refer to the decision of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in the case of PCIT v. Sapna Gupta [2022 SCC OnLine All 1294] which captures with precision the scope of the concerned provision and more significantly, the import of the phrase- "each assessment year" used in the language of Section 153D of the Act. The relevant paragraphs of the said decision are reproduced as under :- "13. It was held therein that if an approval has been granted by the Approving Authority in a mechanical manner without application of mind then the very purpose of ....
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....nd the exposition of law on the issue at hand. Paragraph no.22 of the said decision reads as under :- "22. As rightly pointed out by learned counsel for the assessee there is not even a token mention of the draft orders having been perused by the Additional Commissioner of Income-tax. The letter simply grants an approval. In other words, even the bare minimum requirement of the approving authority having to indicate what the thought process involved was is missing in the aforementioned approval order. While elaborate reasons This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 20/05/2024 at 21:34:51 need not be given, there has to be some indication that the approving authority has examined the draft orders and finds that it meets the requirement of the law. As explained in the above cases, the mere repeating of the words of the statute, or mere "rubber stamping" of the letter seeking sanction by using similar words like "seen" or "approved" will not satisfy the requirement of the law. This is where the Technical Manu....
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....n the case of Smt. Neetu Nayyar. It is also pertinent in this regard to refer to pages 68 and 69 of the paper book which contains information obtained by Smt. Neetu Nayyar from Central Public Information Officer who is none other than the ld. Addl. Commissioner of Income-tax, Central Range-S, New Delhi, under Right to Information Act, wherein, it reveals that the ld. Addl. CIT had granted approval for 43 cases on 30.12.2018 itself. This fact is not in dispute before us. Of these 43 cases, as evident from page 36 of the paper book which contains the approval u/s 153D, 14 cases pertained to the assessee herein and Smt. Neetu Nayyar. The remaining cases may belong to some other assessee, which information is not available before us. In any event, whether it is humanly possible for an approving authority like ld. Addl. CIT to grant judicious approval u/s 153D of the Act for 43 cases on a single day is the subject matter of dispute before us. Further, section 153D provides that approval has to be granted for each of the assessment year whereas, in the instant case, the ld. Addl. CIT has granted a single approval for all assessment years put together." 17. Notably, the order of ....
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....ection 119 of the Act. The Hon'ble High Court also held that non-compliance of requirement of section 153D of the Act is not a mere procedural irregularity and lapse committed by Revenue may vitiate the assessment order. The SLP filed against the aforesaid judgment in the case of ACIT vs Serajuddin & Co. Kolkata was dismissed as reported in (2024) 163 taxmann.com 118 (SC). 10. The ratio of judgement delivered in the case of ACIT vs Serajuddin & Co. Kolkata; PCIT vs Anuj Bansal; PCIT vs Shiv Kumar Nayyar; and PCIT vs Subhash Dabas (supra) has held in chorus that the approval granted under s. 153D of the Act, if granted mechanically, will vitiate the assessment order itself. 11. As noted in the instant case, In the first para of the approval memo, the Addl. CIT referred the letter of the A.O. dated 17/12/2019, and in the second para, it was stated that the on the basis of discussion held from time to time the approval u/s 153D of the Act is granted in respect of seven cases. The approval dated accorded u/s 153D of the Act is bearing the printed date of 17/12/2019 and hand written date of '18/12/2019' and the same has been signed on 18/12/2019. There is n....
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....019 To, The Dy. Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Circle - 32, New Delhi. Sub: Approval u/s 153D of the Income Tax Act, 1961 - Regarding. Please refer to your office letter F. No. DCIT/CC-32/153D/2019-20/1409 dated 27.12.2019 seeking approval u/s 153D of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 2 On the basis of discussion held from time to time the approval u/s 153D of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is granted in respect of following cases & S. No. Name of the assessec PAN A.Y. Section of Assessment Additions 1. Sh. Ram Narayan Bajaj. ACPPB8385E 2015-16 153A r.w.s. 143(3) 97,72,181/- 2. Sh. Ram Narayan Bajaj. ACPPB8385E 2016-17 153A r.w.s. 143(3) 37,15,000/- 3. Sh. Ram Narayan Bajaj. ACPPB8385E 2017-18 153A r.w.s. 143(3) 68,96,49,000/- Assessment records are returned. Yours faithfully, (Vinod Johri) Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Range - 8, New Delhi. Dy. Cer: 2 7 DEC 2019 1290 -- OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX CENTRAL CIRCLE-32, ROOM NO. 359, 3rd FLOOR, E-2, ARA CENTRE, JHANDEWALAN EXTENSION, NEW DELHI-110055 Contact No: 011-23593407, Email: [email protected] Dated : 27.12.2019 F. NO. DCIT/CC-32/153....