TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (9) TMI 934
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....2 dated 04.05.2022) the said notice was treated as notice u/s. 148A of the Act. The Assessing Officer after calling for the details u/s. 148A(b) of the Act passed an order u/s. 148A(b) of the Act on 22.07.2022. The Assessing Officer also issued a notice u/s. 148 of the Act on 26.07.2022. The assessee in response to notice u/s. 148 of the Act filed a return of income declaring a total income of Rs. 1,36,100/- The Assessing Officer called on the assessee to furnish various details pertaining to the sale of property and after considering the various submissions concluded the long term capital gain to be added in the hands of the assessee at Rs. 15,20,127/-. Aggrieved the assessee filed further appeal before the CIT(A) to upheld the order of the Assessing Officer. The assessee is in appeal before the Tribunal against the order of the CIT(A). 3. Before us the assessee raised an additional ground contending the legal issue that the notice issued u/s. 148 of the Act is not valid for the reason that it is issued without obtaining approval from the appropriate authority as mentioned in section 151 of the Act. In support of the admission of this additional ground, the Ld A.R. submitted th....
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....ry of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner Section 151(i) of the New regime Three years or less than three years from the end of the relevant assessment year Principal Commissioner or Principal Director or Commissioner or Director Section 151(ii) of the new regime More than three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or Chief Commissioner or Director General 74. The above table indicates that the specified authority is directly co-related to the time when the notice is issued. This plays out as follows under the old regime: (i) If income escaping assessment was less than rupees one lakh : (a) a reassessment notice could be issued under section 148 within four years after obtaining the approval of the Joint Commissioner; and (b) no notice could be issued after the expiry of four years; and (ii) If income escaping was more than rupees one lakh : (a) a reassessment notice could be issued within four years after obtaining the approval of the Joi....
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....feated because the Assessing Officer could not comply with the preconditions due to the difficulties that arose during the covid-19 pandemic. Section 3(1) of the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 relaxes the time limit for compliance with actions that fall for completion from March 20, 2020 to March 31, 2021. The Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 will accordingly extend the time limit for the grant of sanction by the authority specified under section 151. The test to determine whether Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 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 March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under section 151(i) has an extended time till June 30, 2021 to grant approval. 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 March 20, 2020 and March 31, 2021, then the specified authority under section 151(2) has time till March 31,....
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....t impliedly waived the requirement of obtaining prior approval from the specified authorities under section 151 for section 148A(b) notices. It is well established that this court while exercising its jurisdiction under article 142, is not bound by the procedural requirements of law. (High Court Bar Association, Allahabad v. State of Uttar Pradesh [(2024) 6 SCC 267.]) 81. This court in Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC 617.] directed the Assessing Officers to "pass orders in terms of section 148A(d) in respect of each of the assessee's concerned". Further, it directed the Assessing Officers to issue a notice under section 148 of the new regime "after following the procedure as required under section 148A". Although this court waived off the requirement of obtaining prior approval under section 148A(a) and section 148A(b), it did not waive the requirement for section 148A(d) and section 148. Therefore, the Assessing Officer was required to obtain prior approval of the specified authority according to section 151 of the new regime before passing an order under section 148A(d) or issuing a notice under section 148. These notices ought to ha....