Section 80-IA eligibility, change of opinion, and audit-driven reopening lead to invalid reassessment proceedings

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....Reassessment of an infrastructure deduction claim under section 80-IA was considered invalid on three grounds. Eligibility could not be denied by treating an Indian-registered undertaking as foreign-owned merely because its shares were held by a foreign parent; the recorded reasons also failed to consider development of crane facilities and earlier treatment of the container-terminal business. Reopening after scrutiny on the basis of disclosed and previously examined material amounted to a change of opinion, absent new tangible material. Reassessment founded solely on a revenue audit objection was also treated as legally unsustainable. The reassessment notice, order rejecting objections, and consequential draft assessment proceedings were quashed.....