2026 (4) TMI 1258

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....on has been filed aggrieved by the assessment order dated 29.09.2021 passed under Section 144/147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter, "1961 Act"), whereby the penalty proceedings were initiated for noncompliance of provisions of Section 139(1) of the 1961 Act and the petitioner was held liable to pay the amount of Rs.72,41,665/-. 2. The facts of the present case as stated in the petition are that the petitioner is a 74-year-old individual engaged primarily in agricultural activities for his livelihood. He owns agricultural lands situated at various locations in the districts of Jodhpur and Barmer, which were acquired between the years 1967 and 2014. His income has mainly been derived from agricultural produce, along with minor dair....

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....petitioner. It is submitted that service of notice under Section 148 of the 1961 Act is a condition precedent for assumption of jurisdiction under Section 147 of the 1961 Act, and not a mere procedural formality. In the absence of proper service, the impugned assessment order dated 29.09.2021 is rendered wholly without jurisdiction and deserves to be quashed. 3.1 Learned counsel further submits that, without prejudice to the petitioner's claim that after compliance with the notice under Section 142(1) dated 20.09.2021, the assessment could not have been framed as a best judgment assessment, even if it is assumed that the respondent authority proceeded under Section 144 of the Act, it would imply that all three conditions specified in cla....

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....records showing it to be "barani". The subsequent demand raised under the Stamp Act is thus arbitrary and based on an impermissible change of opinion. 4. Learned counsel for the respondents opposes the writ petition and advances arguments in line with the grounds set out in their reply. 5. Heard learned counsels for both the parties and perused the material available on record. 6. Our attention has been drawn to para 7 of the reply filed by the respondent wherein the stand taken is that the notice under Section 148 of the 1961 Act dated 24.03.2020 was served on the petitioner, who is strictly an agriculturist and currently about 75 years old, through electronic means generated, issued and served via Income Tax Business Application ....

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....ot mere issuance of notice of reopening of assessment but its service on the assessee, that too, within the time frame envisaged under section 149 of the Act is necessary for a valid reopening of assessment. In case of Y. Narayan Chetty & Anr. vs. Income Tax Officer, Nellore & Ors. Reported in (1959) 35 ITR 388, the Supreme Court in the context of Income Tax Act, 1922 had observed as under: "5. The first point raised by Mr. Sastri is that the proceedings taken by respondent 1 under s.34 of the Act are invalid because the notice required to be issued under the said section has not been issued against the assessees contemplated therein. In the present case the Income Tax Officer has purported to act under s.34(1)(a) against the three....