TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (6) TMI 470
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....essing Officer u/s 147 r.w.s. 144 of the I.T. Act. 2. The grounds of appeal raised by the assessee are as follows:- (1) Learned A.O. erred in law as well as on facts by initiating proceedings u/s. 147 of the Act and issue the notice u/s. 148 of the Act, which is void ab initio, invalid, illegal and bad in law. Learned Commissioner of Appeals (NFAC) also erred by not considering the ground of appeal and available records. The assessment based on such illegal and invalid initiation is bad in law, deserves to be quashed the same may kindly be quashed. (2) Learned A.O. grievously erred on facts as also in law in making addition of Rs. 63,44,191/- as unexplained money u/s.69A r.w.s 115BBE of the Act on the alleged ground tha....
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....ment u/s. 147 r.w.s 144 r.w.s. 144B of the Act. As well as Ld. Commissioner of Appeals (NFAC) also erred in law by not considering the same. The order passed by the Commissioner of Appeals is contrary to the provisions of law and is, therefore, liable to be quashed. (7) Appellant craves leave to add, amend, alter or withdraw any ground of appeals." 3. Succinctly, the factual panorama of the case is that assessee before us is an Individual. The assessee's case was selected for assessment/ reassessment and notice u/s 148 of the Act, was issued to the assessee on 30.03.2023, after obtaining prior approval of the specified authority. Order under clause (d) of section 148A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was passed on dated 30.03.2023, a....
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....arch, it was found that the huge money was deposited in the bank accounts maintained in the society and during the course of assessment proceedings the society could not explain the source for the same." 4. As per the details available with assessing officer, the assessing officer noted that the assessee is one of the account holders and had made cash deposits of Rs. 63,44,491/-, into his account maintained with SRMSCS during the year under consideration which has never been accounted for and never been offered to taxation. From the information, it transpires that the assessee had made substantial cash deposits in the account held with Shri Renuka Mata Multi State Urban Co-operative Credit Society Ltd during the year under consideration ....
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....this, the ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted the relevant documents and evidences taken from the site of the Income Tax Department before the Bench and stated that notice u/s 148A of the Act never generated and notice u/s 148A of the Act never issued to the assessee, hence the reassessment order framed in the case of the assessee should be quashed. 7. Shri Mahesh Paun, ld. Counsel for the assessee also argued that the approval u/s. 151 of the Act was not taken from the specified authority of Income Tax. That is, the approval u/s. 151 of the Act is not signed in the eye of law, therefore the reassessment order should be quashed on this ground also. 8. On the other hand, the Ld. DR for the Revenue has primarily reiterated the stand ....
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....ssuance of notice under section 148A(b) is not a mere procedural formality; it is a jurisdictional requirement. If such notice was never issued, and not digitally generated on the income-tax portal, or no evidence exists regarding generation of notice, then the reassessment may become void ab initio. I note that a reassessment proceeding derives jurisdiction from a valid notice. If the foundational notice itself is absent, invalid, or non-existent, subsequent proceedings collapse. Where statute requires a thing to be done in a particular manner, it has to be done in that manner alone. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal,(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC)held that after 01.04.2021, reassessment proceedings must compl....
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....f the Income tax Act 1961, was not taken by the prescribed Income Tax Authority. Under the reassessment scheme contained in sections 147 to 151 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, approval of the "specified authority" under section 151 is a jurisdictional condition precedent for issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act. If such approval is not obtained, or obtained from an incorrect authority, then in that circumstances the entire reassessment proceedings are liable to be quashed. I have examined the fact that in the assessee's case under consideration, the approval under section 151 of the Act was not taken by the specified Income Tax Authority. After substitution by the Finance Act, 2021, section 151 prescribes the "specified authority" w....