TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 959
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....enges the validity of the notice dated 19.03.2024 issued under section 148A(b), the order dated 04.04.2024 passed under section 148A(d), and the consequential notice dated 04.04.2024 issued under section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ("the Act") for the Assessment Year ("AY") 2013-14. 3. The short issue that arises for consideration in the present Petition is whether the impugned notices and order are barred by limitation in terms of the first proviso to section 149(1) of the Act. 4. The learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner submits that the impugned proceedings for AY 2013-14 are time-barred. In this regard, he relies upon the first proviso to section 149(1) of the Act to contend that for Assessment Year 2021-22 and earlier ....
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.... law. He relied upon paragraph 48 of the decision in the case of Rajeev Bansal (supra) to submit that one has to look at the law as on the date of issuance of the notice. Consequently, the learned counsel submitted that there is no merit in the above Writ Petition and the same be dismissed. 6. We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record. To appreciate the controversy, it is necessary to reproduce section 149(1) of the Act, along with the first proviso, as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021, and as amended by Finance Act, 2023: "149. Time limit for notice. (1) No notice under section 148 shall be issued for the relevant assessment year,- (a) if three years have elapsed from the end....
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.... on the retrospective application of the extended ten-year limitation period. It mandates that for any Assessment Year beginning on or before 01.04.2021, a notice under section 148 cannot be issued at any time, if such notice could not have been issued at such time under section 149(1)(b) of the Act, as it stood immediately before the commencement of the Finance Act, 2021 (i.e., the provisions as they stood before the Finance Act, 2021). In the present case we are not concerned with sections 153A and 153C of the Act, as reference to such provisions would arise only in search or requisition cases. It is undisputed that the said sections are not relevant here. 8. Moreover, this issue is no longer res integra. The Hon'ble Supreme Court ....
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....he six year period expired on 31 March 2019. Without the proviso to Section 149(1)(b) of the new regime, the Revenue could have had the power to reopen assessments for the year 2012-2013 if the escaped assessment amounted to Rupees fifty lakhs or more. The proviso limits the retrospective operation of Section 149(1)(b) to protect the interests of the assesses. ... 53. The position of law which can be derived based on the above discussion may be summarized thus: (i) Section 149(1) of the new regime is not prospective. It also applies to past assessment years; (ii) The time limit of four years is now reduced to three years for all situations. The Revenue can issue notices under section 148 of the new regime....
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....hat there is no quarrel with the proposition that the notices have to be judged according to the law existing on the date the notice is issued. That is the settled law. However, the law as on the date of issuance of notice under section 148, includes not only section 149(1)(b) but also the first proviso to section 149(1). Further, the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal (supra) itself has in paragraphs 49 and 53 given its findings relating to the first proviso, which we have reproduced above. Therefore, this argument does not support the case of the Revenue, and, on the contrary, assists the Petitioner herein. 11. Now, this brings us to the next question, i.e. what is the time limit to issue a notice under section 149(1)(b) of the....
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....issued under section 148 of the Act, the same are governed by the decision in the case of Rajeev Bansal (supra) and not the present order. 13. Applying the ratio of Rajeev Bansal (supra) to the facts of the present case, it is evident that for AY 2013-14, the time limit for issuance of notice under Section 148 was latest by 30th June 2021. In the present case, the notice is issued on 4th April 2024 and has certainly expired as on 19.03.2024 and as on 04.04.2024. Consequently, by virtue of the first proviso to section 149(1), the Revenue is barred from issuing the notice under section 148 of the Act under the new regime, notwithstanding the ten-year period provided in section 149(1)(b) after its amendment by Finance Act of 2021. 14. Th....