TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 131
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....porate Deposits. The petitioner, using the funds received, purchased parcels of land in Financial Years 2010-11 and 2011-12 for a total sum of Rs. 104,82,31,209/- from various parties and also acquired all the issued shares of Siddhi Vinayak Cement Private Limited in the month of October, 2011. 2.2 It is further the case of the petitioner that pursuant to a search conducted in the case of Satyam Sangani Shaligram Group of Companies on 06.03.2018, certain incriminating documents in relation to the transactions by one Hanubhai Sanghani was found, based on which, a notice under Section 153C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short "the Act") came to be issued on the petitioner for the Assessment Year 2008-09 to Assessment Year 2018-19 on 31.03.2022. Along with the said notices, a satisfaction note recorded by respondent No. 1 was also supplied to the petitioner, but the satisfaction note recorded by respondent No. 2 was not supplied to the petitioner. 2.3 The petitioner, filed the return of income in April 2022 for all the Assessment Years 2008-09 to Assessment Year 2018-19, and also requested the respondent No. 2 to provide him with the satisfaction note vide letters dated 04.05.....
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.... 153A and 153C of the Act, he would submit that notices under Sections 153A / 153C of the Act can be issued for a period of "ten assessment years" immediately preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is carried out and for the "relevant assessment years", subject to fulfillment of certain conditions. 3.2 It is submitted that the "relevant assessment year" means an assessment year preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is carried out or requisition is made, which falls beyond six assessment years but not later than ten assessment years from the "end of the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is conducted". 3.3 Reference is made to proviso to Section 153C of the Act and submitted that as the first satisfaction note is recorded on 04.03.2022, the date of search would be construed accordingly. 4. It is submitted that in the instant case, the search action was carried out in the case of third party on 04.03.2022, i.e. during the Financial Year 2021-22, and hence the relevant assessment year to the previous year in which the search was undertaken under Section 132 of the....
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.... the Act or a survey conducted under Section 133A of the Act, if such action is taken on or after the first day of April 2021 but before the first day of September 2024. It is submitted that in the present case, admittedly, the search was conducted on 04.03.2022, which falls between these dates, and hence the provisions of Section 149(b) of the Act get attracted. In this regard, reliance is also placed on the Division Bench judgment of this Court in the case of Bhavin Kishorebhai Zinzuwadia vs. Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax, Central Circle-2(3), [2024] 169 taxmann.com 505 (Gujarat). 5.3 It is submitted that as per clause (b) to sub-section (1) of Section 149 of the Act, the period of ten years, in a case where the escaped income is more than Rs. 50 lakhs, would begin after ten years have lapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year. It is contended that in the instant case, it was noticed from the incriminating material that the income had escaped assessment for the year 2012-13, and if the ten years are counted after excluding the Assessment Year 2022-23, the action of the revenue would fall within the limitation period of such ten years. 5.4 While referring to....
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....LYSIS AND OPINION : 6. We have heard the learned advocates at length. We have also perused the case laws cited above and have considered the provisions threadbare. 7. The facts which are established from the pleadings are that a search action under Section 153A of the Act against the searched person would be construed on 04.03.2022, which indubitably falls in the Financial Year 2022-23. The revenue found some incriminating material against the present petitioner and accordingly issued the impugned notices for reopening the assessment for the year 2012-13. The notice has been issued under Section 153C of the Act. 8. At this stage, we may refer to the provisions of Section 153A(1)(b) and Explanation (1) to Section 153A of the Act, on which the learned advocates have premised their submissions. Section 153A(1)(b) and Explanation (1) to Section 153A of the Act read as under: "SECTION 153A Assessment in case of search or requisition. 153A. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 139, section 147, section 148, section 149, section 151 and section 153, in the case of a person where a search is initiated under section 132 or books of account, o....
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.... assessment year preceding the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is conducted or requisition is made which falls beyond six assessment years but not later than ten assessment years from the end of the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is conducted or requisition is made." 8.1 We may, at this stage, mention that the Delhi High Court as well as the Madras High Court has already considered the implications of Explanation (1) to Section 153A of the Act to the limitation and the expression "relevant assessment year" used therein in Explanation (1) to Section 153A of the Act. The Delhi High Court, in the case of Ojjus Medicare (supra), after considering an array of judgments of other High Courts as well as of the Supreme Court and upon a threadbare consideration and analysis of the statutory provisions of Sections 153A, 148 and 149 of the Act, has held thus: "88 Section 153A replicates the basis on which the six AYs' 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 ....
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.... the Madras High Court in A.R. Safiullah. We deem it appropriate to extract the following paragraphs from that decision:- "9 Explanation-I is clear as to the manner of computation of the ten assessment years. It clearly and firmly fixes the starting point. It is the end of the assessment year relevant to the previous year in which search is conducted or requisition is made. There cannot be any doubt that since search was made in this case on 10.04.2018, the assessment year is 2019-20. The end of the assessment year 2019-20 is 31.03.2020. The computation of ten years has to run backwards from the said date i.e. 31.03.2020. The first year will of course be the search assessment year itself. In that event, the ten assessment years will be as follows: 1st Year 2019-20 2nd Year 2018-19 3rd Year 2017-18 4th Year 2016-17 5th Year 2015-16 6th Year 2014-15 7th Year 2013-14 8th Year 2012-13 9th Year 2011-2012 10th Year 2010-2011 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 t....
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....of the ten AYs which are spoken of in sections 153A and 153C." 8.2 Thus, it is precisely held hereinabove that the statute prescribes different modes of computation for six years and ten years. We reiterate that the provisions of Section 153A(1) (b) of the Act stipulate 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 the search is conducted. However, the ten-assessment year period, consequently, is to be reckoned from the end of the assessment year pertaining to the previous year in which the search was conducted, as distinct from the preceding year which is spoken of in the case of the six relevant assessment years. Thus, the contention with regard to the computation of six years as well as ten years under the provisions of Section 153A of the Act has already been gone into by the Delhi High Court as well as the Madras High Court, and we have no convincing reason to take a divergent view from the view expressed hereinabove. Applying the aforesaid computation to the facts of the present case, taking the date of the search as 04.03.2022 during the Financial Year 2021....