Statutory approval under reassessment rules is jurisdictional; sanction by an incompetent authority invalidates the notice and reassessment.

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....For reassessment notices issued more than three years after the end of the relevant assessment year, section 151(ii) requires approval from the statutorily specified authority rather than the Principal Commissioner. The notes state that the later proviso to section 151, effective from 1 April 2023 and allowing exclusion of time permitted for a reply under section 148A(b), operates prospectively and does not validate an earlier notice. Approval by an incompetent authority is a jurisdictional defect, not a defect in form, authentication or communication curable under section 292BC. On that basis, the reassessment for AY 2018-19 was quashed, with other contentions left open.....