TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (9) TMI 697
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....ue raised vide Ground No.2 as under :- "2. That on the facts and circumstances of the case, the assessment order passed u/s 143(3) of the Act is invalid and bad in law as learned Joint Commission of Income Tax, Central Range, Gurgaon has given his approval u/s 153D of the Act in arbitrary and mechanical manner without judicious application of mind." 3. Ld. AR of the assessee submitted that approval under Section 153D of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act') obtained by the AO in the matter is mechanical in nature and the same is, therefore, invalid and the assessment is, thus, liable to be quashed. He further submitted that the approval under Section 153D of the Act issued by the JCIT, Central Range, Gurgaon is without ....
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....eraj Chaudhary vs. ACIT, CC-8, Delhi, 2025 (9) TMI 1372, dated 12.09.2025. He also relied on the decision of Hon'ble Allahabad High Court in the case of PCIT vs. Siddarth Gupta 2022 (12) TMI 1021 dated 12.12.2022 and Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Shiv Kumar Nayyar 2024 (6) TMI 29 dated 15.05.2024. Accordingly, he prayed that the legal ground may be allowed and the assessment be quashed and allowed the appeal of the assessee. 5. On the other hand, ld. DR of the Revenue relied on the orders of the authorities below but he has not been able to controvert that the approval is a consolidated one. 6. Considered the rival submissions and material placed on record. We have considered the judgements as relied upon by the Ld. AR on th....
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....CIT Central vs. Siddharth Gupta (supra) has decided the similar legal issue in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue, which was upheld by Hon'ble Supreme Court in SLP (Civil) (supra) and Hon'ble High Court held as under :- "The approval of draft assessment order being an in-built protection against any arbitrary or unjust exercise of power by the Assessing Officer, cannot be said to be a mechanical exercise, without application of independent mind by the Approving Authority on the material placed before it and the reasoning given in the assessment order. It is admitted by Sri Gaurav Mahajan, learned counsel for the appellant-revenue that the approval order is an administrative exercise of power on the part of the Approving....
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.... of each assessment year falling within such six assessment years (and for the relevant assessment year or years). The careful and conjoint reading of Section 153A(1) and Section 153D leave no room for doubt that approval with respect to "each assessment year" is to be obtained by the Assessing Officer on the draft assessment order before passing the assessment orders under Section 153A. 13. Further, we find that Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of PCIT vs. Shiv Kumar Nayyar (supra) has decided the similar legal issue in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue. The relevant findings of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court are reproduced as under :- "15. A similar view was taken by this Court in the case of Anuj Bansa....
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....ed by Smt. NeetuNayyar from Central Public Information Officer who is none other than the ld. Addl. Commissioner of Income-tax, Central Range-S, New Delhi, under Right to Information Act, wherein, it reveals that the ld. Addl. CIT had granted approval for 43 cases on 30.12.2018 itself. This fact is not in dispute before us. Of these 43 cases, as evident from page 36 of the paper book which contains the approval u/s 153D, 14 cases pertained to the assessee herein and Smt. NeetuNayyar. The remaining cases may belong to some other assessees, which information is not available before us. In any event, whether it is humanly possible for an approving authority like ld. Addl. CIT to grant judicious approval u/s 153D of the Act for 43 cases on a si....