TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 483
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....the Assessment Year 2015-2016. 3. The challenge to these Impugned Instruction dated 11.05.2022, Impugned Order passed under Section 148A(d) of the Act dated 28.07.2022 and Impugned Section 148 Notice dated 28.07.2022 are primarily on account of the apparent concession given by the Additional Solicitor General of India before the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Union of India and others Vs. Rajeev Bansal, (2024) 469 ITR 46 / 2024 SCC Online SC 2693. 4. For the sake of clarity, Paragraph No.19 from the said decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal case referred to supra is extracted below:- "19. Mr. N. Venkataraman, learned Additional Solicitor General of India, made the following submissions on behalf of the Revenue: a. Parliament enacted TOLA as a free-standing legislation to provide relief and relaxation to both the assesses and the Revenue during the time of COVID-19. TOLA seeks to relax actions and proceedings that could not be completed or complied with within the original time limits specified under the Income-tax Act; b. Section 149 of the new regime provides three crucial benefits to the assesses: (i) the four-year time limit for all s....
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....21, and h. Ashish Agarwal (supra) treated Section 148 notices issued by the Revenue between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 as show-cause notices in terms of Section 148A(b). Thereafter, the Revenue issued notices under section 148 of the new regime between July and August 2022. Invalidation of the Section 148 notices issued under the new regime on the ground that they were issued beyond the time limit specified under the Income-tax Act read with TOLA will completely frustrate the judicial exercise undertaken by this Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra)." 5. At the outset, a concession given by the learned Additional Solicitor General before the Hon'ble Supreme Court can neither be construed to be law declared under Article 141 of the Constitution of India nor purport of such concession can be construed to mean that the limitation for issuance of Notice under Section 148 of the Act had expired even where the amount involved is more than the specified limit both under the new and the old regime. A reading of the above table from Paragraph 19 of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal case referred to supra also makes it clear that the Court was not informed t....
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.... d. TOLA will extend the time limit for the grant of sanction by the authority specified under Section 151. The test to determine whether TOLA will apply to Section 151 of the new regime is this: if the time limit of three years from the end of an assessment year falls between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, then the specified authority under Section 151(i) has extended time till 30 June 2021 to grant approval; e. In the case of Section 151 of the old regime, the test is: if the time limit of four years from the end of an assessment year falls between 20 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, then the specified authority under Section 151(2) has extended time till 31 March 2021 to grant approval; f. The directions in Ashish Agarwal (supra) will extend to all the ninety thousand reassessment notices issued under the old regime during the period 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021; g. The time during which the show cause notices were deemed to be stayed is from the date of issuance of the deemed notice between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 till the supply of relevant information and material by the assessing officers to the assesses in terms of the directions issued....
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....Year 2015-2016. 14. In the present case, a Section 148 Notice was issued to the Petitioner on 30.06.2021 under the old regime. It was issued prior to the expiry of limitation on 31.03.2022 under the old regime as the income chargeable to tax that is said to have escaped assessment for the Assessment Year 2015-2016 was Rs.27,06,46,000/-. 15. This was of course made known to the Petitioner after Section 148A(b) Notice dated 27.05.2022 was issued to the Petitioner under the new regime after the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Ashish Agarwal case referred to supra rendered its decision on 04.05.2022. 16. Since the income chargeable to tax that is said to have escaped assessment for the Assessment Year 2015-2016 was Rs.27,06,46,000/-, it cannot therefore be held that the Impugned Section 148 Notice dated 28.07.2022 issued to the Petitioner can be said to be time barred. 17. As per the Scheme of Section 148A(b) of the Act, a Notice has to be issued, giving time not exceeding 30 days from the date of such Notice or such further time as may be extended on the basis of an application made in this behalf, for furnishing a Reply under Section 148A(c) of the Act. 18. Based on such Repl....
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....xation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. 22. Only if Section 148 Notice is issued beyond the surviving period of limitation, such Notice can be held to be time barred and can liable to be set aside. However, this is not the situation in the facts of the present case. 23. The time between 01.04.2021 and 27.05.2022 (being the date of Section 148A(b) Notice) and two weeks time given thereafter to Reply under Section 148A(b) read with the Third Proviso to Section 149 of the Act and the time for passing Order has to be excluded in terms of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Ashish Agarwal case referred to supra and the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal case referred to supra are to be excluded. 24. As per the Third Proviso to Section 149 of the Act, (later re-numbered as Fifth Proviso vide Finance Act No.8 of 2023 with effect from 01.04.2023), the said period stands excluded. For the sake of clarity, Section 148A(d) and Third Proviso to Section 149 of the Act is reproduced below:- Section 148A(d) Third Proviso to Section 149 The Assessing Officer shall, before issuing any notice under Section 148,-....
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.... time. 29. Therefore, the so called concession will not apply to the facts of the present case, and the income chargeable to tax that is said to have escaped assessment for the Assessment Year 2015-2016 was Rs.27,06,46,000/- as per Section 148A(b) Notice dated 27.05.2022 as mentioned above. 30. That apart, under the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 and the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 and the Notifications issued therein and in view of the periodical extension of time given by the Hon'ble Supreme Court independently in In Re: Cognizance for Extenstion of Limitation in Miscellaneous Application Nos.21 and 29 of 2022 in Miscellaneous Application No.665 of 2021 dated 10.01.2022, it cannot be said the proceedings are barred. 31. Similar issues have came before this Court on several occasions and several orders have been passed wherein it has been clearly clarified that the so called concession recorded in Paragraph No.19 from the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Rajeev Bansal case referred to supra was indeed not concessional. 32. That apart, the issue has b....