TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (9) TMI 775
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....challenging the validity of the reassessment proceedings as well as the additions made by the Assessing Officer. However, at the time of hearing, the learned Authorised Representative ("ld.AR") submitted that ground No. 5, which challenges the validity of the approval/sanction granted under section 151 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, goes to the root of the jurisdiction assumed by the Assessing Officer and, therefore, the same may be adjudicated first. Accordingly, we proceed to adjudicate ground No. 5. 3. Briefly stated, the assessee is a firm and the assessment year involved is A.Y. 2017-18. The original reassessment proceedings were initiated pursuant to the notice issued under section 148 of the Act. The relevant factual position, as em....
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....y be, whereas in the present case the approval was obtained from the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax. It was therefore submitted that the approval was not granted by the authority specified under section 151(ii) of the Act and consequently the order passed under section 148A(d) and the notice issued under section 148 were without valid jurisdiction. The ld.AR relied upon the judgment of the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in the case of Alag Property Construction Private Limited v. ACIT, reported in [2025] 179 taxmann.com 578 (Bombay), and also relied upon the decision of the coordinate Bench of the Tribunal, Mumbai, in the case of Sudhir Motiram Patil, ITA No.6190/Mum/2025, dated 30.01.2026. 5. The learned Departmental Representa....
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....rom the end of the relevant assessment year had expired before the order under section 148A(d) was passed on 29.07.2022 and before the consequential notice under section 148 was issued on the same date. Therefore, the applicable provision is section 151(ii) of the Act. The material available on record, however, shows that the approval for the order under section 148A(d) was obtained from the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax and not from the authority specified under section 151(ii). 8. The issue is no longer res integra in the facts before us. The Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court in Alag Property Construction Private Limited v. ACIT, [2025] 179 taxmann.com 578 (Bombay), while considering the reassessment proceedings for A.Y. 2017-18....
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....uently quashed the reopening proceedings and the assessment order passed under section 147 read with section 144B. 10. Applying the aforesaid legal position to the facts of the present case, we find that the order under section 148A(d) and the consequential notice under section 148 were issued on 29.07.2022 in respect of A.Y. 2017-18, i.e. after the expiry of three years from the end of the relevant assessment year. Consequently, the approval contemplated under section 151(ii) was required to be obtained from the specified higher authority. Admittedly, the approval in the present case was obtained from the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax. Such approval does not satisfy the requirement of section 151(ii) applicable to the facts of th....