TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (4) TMI 395
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....4 is barred by limitation as per 1st proviso to Section 149 of the Act, as interpreted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal 444 ITR 1 and Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal 469 ITR 46. (iii) That the surviving period after considering all exclusions as per the ratio of decision in Rajeev Bansal (supra) and as per 4th proviso to Section 149, was 7 days which expired on 13.06.2022. (iv) That pursuant to expiry of limitation on 13.06.2022, the Respondent ceased to have jurisdiction to issue notice u/s 148 of the Act for AY 2014-15 vide Ram Balram Buildhome (P.) Ltd. v. ITO: 477 ITR 133 and 2. Referring to the additional ground the Ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that these ground are purely legal grounds going to the root of the very validity of the assessment order passed u/s. 147 r.w 144B of the Act and therefore, the same be admitted for adjudication. The reliance was placed on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme court in the case of National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd. Vs. CIT (229 ITR 383). 3. On hearing both the parties and perusing additional ground raised by the assessee we are of the view that these additional gro....
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....h Agarwal (supra) has to be excluded from the computation of the period of limitation. Moreover, the period of two weeks granted to the assesses to reply to the show cause notices must also be excluded in terms of the third proviso to Section 149. 111. The clock started ticking for the Revenue only after it received the response of the assesses to the show causes notices. After the receipt of the reply, the assessing officer had to perform the following responsibilities: (i) consider the reply of the assessee under section 149A Assessee; (ii) take a decision under section 149A(d) based on the available material and the reply of the assessee; and (iii) issue a notice under section 148 if it was a fit case for reassessment. Once the clock started ticking, the assessing officer was required to complete these procedures within the surviving time limit. The surviving time limit, as prescribed under the Income-tax Act read with TOLA, was available to the assessing officers to issue the reassessment notices under section 148 of the new regime." (Emphasis Supplied) 4. In this regard, we are respectfully submitting the date chart as under : Date Events & Particula....
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....ant to SC directions in Ashish Agarwal (supra) - Up to 06.06.2022:- Period of two-weeks to furnish response to SCN elapsed - Up to 13.06.2022:- Surviving period lapses. 6. That additionally, even after taking into consideration exclusion in terms the 3rd and 4th provisos to Section 149 of the Act, the surviving period expires on 13.06.2022 in case of the Appellant, whereas the notice u/s 148 of the Act was issued on 22.07.2022 viz. after expiry of 39 days from the period of limitation prescribed under the Act read with TOLA. 7. Therefore, applying the ratio of the decisions in Ashish Agarwal and Rajeev Bansal (supra) in the context of the 1" proviso to Section 149 of the Act, the order u/s 148A(d) as well as the notice u/s 148 of the Act being issued on 22.07.2022 are barred by limitation. 8. For the sake of completeness, it may be noted that the prescribed time period of one month from the end of the month in which reply to SCN is received for passing of order u/s 148A(d) of the Act does not apply, since the overall limitation period for issuance of notice u/s 148 of the Act, is to be seen within the time limits prescribed u/s 149 of th....
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....ds proceeds on an erroneous understanding of the interplay between section 149, the exclusions under the provisos thereto and the saving effected by TOLA read with Ashish Agarwal and Rajeev Bansal. The assessee seeks to treat the limitation as having finally expired on 13.06.2022 and to ignore the fact that the original notice dated 30.06.2021 stood validated and repurposed as a 148A(b) notice by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and that the subsequent steps taken by the Assessing Officer were only in furtherance of that validly issued notice. On the facts of the present case, the reassessment proceedings cannot be said to be time-barred, and the re-assessment order is not without jurisdictions. It is further submitted that the assessee did not raise any such objection regarding limitation either in response to the notices issued in reassessment proceedings or before the first appellate authority and has chosen to raise this plea for the first time at the stage of hearing before the Hon'ble ITAT. The additional grounds are clearly an afterthought to dispute jurisdiction at a very belated stage. While the question of admission of additional legal grounds is within the exc....