TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (11) TMI 1449
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....dence established after detailed investigation of facts or law. 2. The Ld. CIT(A) relied upon the submission made by the Appellant ignoring the Department findings during the search u/s 132(1) of the Act and information contained in the seized documents. 3. Whether on facts and circumstances of the case and in law, the Ld. CIT(A) erred in applying the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of M/s Sinhgad Technical Education Society. which was distinguishable on the facts of the present case as the same pertained to prior period to 01.04.2005 whereas after 01.04.2005 153C notice can be issued when AO is satisfied that seized material has a bearing on the assessment of income of other person. 4. That the Ld. CIT(A) did not appreciate the facts and material on record. 5. The order of the Ld CIT(A) is erroneous in law and on facts of the case and is liable to be set aside and the order of the AO be restored." 3. The brief facts are that a search and seizure operation was carried out under section 132(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the "Act") on 11.11.2014 in M/s. Apple Group of Companies ("AGC") wherein certain incriminating materi....
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....rred to seized material (Annexure LP-26 page No. 1 to 144 and LP-12 page No. 21 & 12 LP21 Page No.136) but none of these documents belonged to the assessee. It was explained what these documents were and to whom it belonged. It was clarified that not only that there is nothing incriminating in the said seized papers, these did not even belong to the assessee and as such there was no justification for issue of notice under section 153C based on these documents. 5. The assessee's submissions/counter comments were acceptable to the Ld CIT(A) who arrived at the conclusion that notice under section 153C issued by the Ld. AO needs to be treated as ab-initio invalid and legally not sustainable and therefore, he quashed the assessment framed on the basis of legally unsustainable notice under section 153C of the Act observing and recording his findings as under:- "5.8 The proceedings u/s 153C of the Act are very specific and clearly explained in the Act. For the sake of clarity, relevant provision of Act is as under:- "133C "((1))" (Notwithstanding anything contained in section 139, section 147, section 148, section 149, section 151 and section 133, where the Assessing ....
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....ad Technical Education Society (2017) 397 ITR 344 (SC) has held that the nexus between issue of notice u/s 153C and the incriminating material found as a result of search must exist. Hon'ble Supreme Court in para 13 of the order has observed that one of the jurisdictional conditions precedent to the issue of a notice u/s 153C of the Act is that "money, bullion, Jewellery or other- valuable article or thing" or any "books of account or document must be seized or requisitioned for the relevant assessment year for issue of notice u/s 153C of the Act." The observation of the Supreme Court in para 18 of the order mentioned here in above is reproduced below: "The ITAT permitted this additional ground by giving a reason that it was a Jurisdictional issue taken up on the basis of facts already on the record and, therefore, could be raised. In this behalf, it was noted by the ITAT that as per the provisions of Section 153C of the Act, incriminating material which was seized had to pertain to the Assessment Years in question and it is an undisputed fact that the documents which were seized did not establish any co-relation, document- wise, with these four Assessment Years. Since....
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....ist between existence of incriminating material and relevant assessment years. In the instance case, admittedly, additions are not based on any incriminating document found, as a result of search. Further, AO has not recorded the satisfaction for these relevant assessment years, as envisaged u/s 153C of the Act. In fact, no assessment year is mentioned in the satisfaction note recorded by the AO." 6. Dissatisfied, the Revenue is in appeal and all the grounds relate thereto. 7. We have heard the Ld. Representative of the parties, considered their respective arguments and perused the records. We observe that the Ld. CIT(A) has reproduced in para 5.6 of his appellate order the satisfaction note dated 14.12.2016 recorded by the Ld. AO. On analysis of the said satisfaction note the Ld. CIT(A) found that no satisfaction note is recorded by the Ld. AO of searched person to establish the fact that specific seized document indeed belonged to the assessee company. On detailed study of the seized material at Annexure LP-26 Page No. 1 to 144 mentioned in the satisfaction note the Ld. CIT(A) found that it is ledger print out of tally books containing confirmation of various parties in the....