TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (2) TMI 424
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.... of the Constitution of India. 2.2 A search and seizure operation u/s 132 of the Act was initiated on Ratnamani Group on 23.11.2021. 2.3 Subsequently, on 29.03.2023, the petitioner is issued the impugned notice for reopening u/s 148 for the AY 2012-13 inter alia other notices u/s 148 for other Assessment Years. The petitioner filed his preliminary objections against the issuance of notice u/s 148 dated 07.04.2023. 2.4 Shockingly disregarding the objections of the petitioner, the respondent has passed an order disposing off objections on 26.04.2023. 2.5 The respondent has, thereafter, issued notice u/s 142(1) on 08.04.2023. The petitioner replied to the same vide reply dated 17.04.2023 and 06.05.2023. The respondent has thereafter issued a show-cause notice on 28.04.2023 and the petitioner has replied to the same on 09.05.2023. 2.5A The respondent has, thereafter, passed the assessment order on 02.06.2023 at Rs. 58,08,04,430/- and raised the demand of Rs. 37,70,35,033/-. The respondent has also issued notice for penalty u/s 274 read with section 271(1)(c) on 09.06.2023. It is crucial to note that the respondent has not provided any opportunity of personal hearing nor ....
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.... of Dinesh Jindal vs. Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Circle 20, Delhi & Ors., being Writ Petition (Civil) No. 12091 of 2023 decided on 27.05.2024. Reliance is also placed on the judgment of the Delhi High Court in the case of Principal Commissioner of Income-tax (Central-1) vs. Ojjus Medicare (P) Ltd., [2024] 161 taxmann.com 160 (Delhi). Finally, he has also placed reliance on the judgment of the Madras High Court, Bench at Madurai, dated 24.03.2021 passed in Writ Petition (MD) No. 4327 of 2021. 4.2 Thus, it is urged that the impugned notice may be set aside. 5. The writ petition is vehemently opposed by the learned Senior Standing Counsels appearing for the respondent - Department, by contending that if the issue raised in the present petition is answered in favour of the assessee, it will have wide ramifications. We have heard them at length. The following submissions are made by the learned Senior Standing Counsels appearing on behalf of the revenue: 5.1 It is submitted that the proviso to Section 149 of the Act, which was introduced by the Finance Act, 2021, will apply only to those categories of cases in which the Assessing Officer, at the relevan....
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.... escaped, for calculating ten years, the first assessment year has to be ignored. It is submitted that the expression "from the end of the assessment year" as mentioned in Explanation (1) to Section 153A of the Act would mean that it would commence from 1st April, and if we go backwards, in the present case, the reopening of the assessment for the year 2015-16 would get encompassed within a period of ten years. 5.5 While placing reliance on the notes of the legislature relating to the provisions of Section 153A and Explanation (1) to Section 153A of the Act, it is contended that the word "end" is missing, and hence it is contended that the intention of the legislature was to exclude the word "end" from the statute. It is further contended that if appropriate calculation is made, the calculation of ten years of assessment years under Explanation (1) to Section 153A of the Act would include the previous year as per the provisions of Section 153A(1)(b) of the Act. It is contended that considering the memorandum and explanatory note of the Finance Act, 2017, the intention of the legislature, even for the purpose of calculating ten years, is to exclude the search year and it is....
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....unless the case falls under clause (b); (b) if three years, but not more than ten years, have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year unless the Assessing Officer has in his possession books of account or other documents or evidence which reveal that the income chargeable to tax, represented in the form of- (i) an asset, (ii) expenditure in respect of a transaction or in relation to an event or occasion, or (iii) an entry or entries in the books of account, which has escaped assessment amounts to or is likely to amount to fifty lakh rupees or more:] Provided that no notice under section 148 shall be issued at any time in a case for the relevant assessment year beginning on or before 1st day of April, 2021, if a notice under section 148 or section 153A or section 153C could not have been issued at that time on account of being beyond the time limit specified under the provisions of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of this section or section 153A or section 153C, as the case may be, as they stood immediately before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2021: Provided further that the provisions of this sub-sectio....
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...., 2003, the Assessing Officer shall- XXX XXX XXX (b) assess or reassess the total income of six assessment years immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which such search is conducted or requisition is made and for the relevant assessment year or years: Provided that the Assessing Officer shall assess or reassess the total income in respect of each assessment year falling within such six assessment years and for the relevant assessment year or years): Provided further that assessment or reassessment, if any, relating to any assessment year falling within the period of six assessment years and for the relevant assessment year or years referred to in this sub-section pending on the date of initiation of the search under section 132 or making of requisition under section 132A, as the case may be, shall abate Provided also that the Central Government may by rules made by it and published in the Official Gazette (except in cases where any assessment or reassessment has abated under the second proviso, specify the class or classes of cases in which the Assessing Officer shall not be required to issue notice f....
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....are to be identified and computed with the solitary distinction being that in the case of the searched person, the six AYs' are liable to be computed from the AY pertaining to the FY in which the search was conducted. The starting point for the purpose of identifying the six AYs' in the case of section 153A would thus turn upon the year of search as opposed to the handover of material which is spoken of in the First Proviso to section 153C. If one were to therefore assume that a search took place on a person between 01 April 2021 to 31 March 2022, the pertinent AY would become AY 2022-23 and the corresponding six AYs' would by as follows: Computation of the six-year block period as provided under section 153C of the Act No of years AY 2021-22 1 AY 2020-21 2 AY 2019-20 3 AY 2018-19 4 AY 2017-18 5 AY 2016-17 6 89. That takes us then to the issue of identifying the "relevant assessment year" for the purposes of computing the ten year block. Explanation 1 to section 153A specifies the manner in which the entire ten AY period is to be computed. While the computation of six AYs follows the position as enunciated and identified above, Exp....
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....10-2011 The case on hand pertains to AY 2009-10. It is obviously beyond the ten year outer ceiling limit prescribed by the statute. The terminal point is the tenth year calculated from the end of the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is conducted. The long arm of the law can go up to this terminal point and not one day beyond. When the statute is clear and admits of no ambiguity, it has to be strictly construed and there is no scope for looking to the explanatory notes appended to statute or circular issued by the department. 10. In the case on hand, the statute has prescribed one mode of computing the six years and another mode for computing the ten years. Section 153A(1)(b) states that the assessing officer shall assess or reassess the total income of six years immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is conducted. Applying this yardstick, the six years would go up to 2013-14. The search assessment year, namely, 2019-20 has to be excluded. This is because, the statute talks of the six years preceding the search assessment year. But, while computing the ten assessment years, the starting p....