TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (9) TMI 1182
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.... the Notice dated 25.03.2019 issued by the respondent under the provision of Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act') in the name of "Shalibhadra Finvest Services Private Limited", seeking to reopen its Income Tax assessment for the Assessment Year (for short 'A.Y.') 2014-15. FACTS OF THE CASE 2. The facts, as they emerge from the pleadings and the documents on record, are that Shalibhadra Finvest Services Private Limited (later known as Shalibhadra Infraspace Private Limited, and hereinafter referred to as 'the amalgamating company') filed its return of income for A.Y. 2014-15 on 24.11.2014 declaring its total income at Rs. 1,40,94,230/-. The case was selected for scrutiny and the assessment was framed under Sect....
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....ing aggrieved, the petitioner approached this Court by way of the present petition. By an order dated 06.12.2019, the Coordinate Bench of this Court after taking note of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Principal Commissioner of Income Tax vs. Maruti Suzuki (India) Ltd., (2019) 416 ITR 613 (SC), issued Notice and, by way of ad-interim relief, stayed further proceedings pursuant to the impugned Notice dated 25.03.2019. 2.3 During the pendency of the present petition, the Revenue initiated proceedings under Section 147 of the Act for the very same A.Y. 2014-15 in the hands of the petitioner, i.e. the amalgamated company (PAN: AAECM6565F), by issuing a Notice under Section 148 of the Act which ultimately culminated into an a....
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....eopening for AY 2014-15 stating that on the date of notice issued, company viz; Shalibhadra Finvest Services Pvt Ltd was not in existence and has already been merged with M/s Marvell Mall Development company Ltd vide order dated 01.03.2018 passed by National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench. The information pertains to M/s Shalibhadra Finvest Services Pvt Ltd which got amalgamated into assessee company. Hence notice was issued in the name of the assessee company and addition proposed in the case of the assessee company in respect of share application money received by the company M/s Shalibhadra Finvest Services Pvt Ltd." 3.1 It is submitted that the subject matter of the impugned Notice dated 25.03.2019, namely the share appl....
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....tention, the impugned Notice deserves to be quashed and set aside. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT 4. Opposing the present petition, learned Senior Standing Counsel for the Revenue has not been in a position to dispute that the assessment order dated 15.05.2023 has been passed in the hands of the petitioner for A.Y. 2014-15 in respect of the very same share application money of Rs. 1,40,00,000/- which forms the subject matter of the impugned Notice. It is, however, submitted that the Revenue was within its rights to proceed against the successor entity and that the petitioner has an alternative remedy of appeal against the assessment order dated 15.05.2023. Thus, it is urged that the writ petition may not be entertained. AN....
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....eopening in the name of the amalgamating company had been challenged before this Court on the ground that the amalgamating company was not in existence on the date of the notice; and that "hence" the notice was issued in the name of the amalgamated company and the addition was proposed in its hands. The Revenue has, therefore, consciously and unequivocally proceeded on the footing that the amalgamating company ceased to exist upon the sanction of the scheme of amalgamation and that its successor, namely the petitioner, is the person in whose hands the income of the amalgamating company for A.Y. 2014-15 is to be assessed. Having so proceeded, and having actually brought the very same subject matter to tax in the hands of the amalgamated comp....
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....sor, which is a course not countenanced by law. 9. We are, therefore, of the view that, in view of the very same subject matter having already been brought to tax in the hands of the amalgamated company by the assessment order dated 15.05.2023, the proceedings pursuant to the impugned Notice dated 25.03.2019 in the hands of the amalgamating company cannot survive, and the impugned Notice is required to be quashed and set aside on this ground alone. In view of this conclusion, it is not necessary for us to examine the other contention raised on behalf of the petitioner, founded upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Maruti Suzuki (India) Ltd. (supra), as to the validity of a notice under Section 148 of the Act issued in the....