TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 1851
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.... outbreak of the Bird Flu the assessee sustained substantial financial loss and his business was severely affected which is also affected the livelihood of the assessee therefore, the assessee has devoted his entire time in managing the crisis, disposing of the dead birds and taking necessary measures to contain the spread of the disease which has resulted in delay of 82 days in filing the present appeal before the Tribunal. He has thus pleaded that the delay in filing the appeal may be condoned and appeal of the assessee be admitted for hearing and adjudication on merits. 3. On the other hand, the learned DR has opposed the condonation of delay. 4. I have considered the rival submissions and carefully perused the reasons explained by the assessee in the affidavit in Para Nos. 3 to 5 as under: "3. I am engaged in the business of poultry farming. During the relevant period, my poultry farm was severely affected by an outbreak of Bird Flu (Avian Influenza), resulting in the death of approximately 5,000 birds. The outbreak caused substantial financial loss, severely disrupted my poultry business and livelihood. Consequently, I had to devote my entire time to managing th....
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....ceipts of Rs. 83,24,600/- and bank receipts of Rs. 6,17,968/- aggregating to total turnover of Rs. 89,42,568/- in the return filed in response to notice u/s 148, whereas the Assessing Officer, on verification of the bank account, noticed banking credits of Rs. 10,94,793/- and arbitrarily enhanced the gross receipts without proper reconciliation. b) The Ld. CIT(A) erred in upholding the action of the Assessing Officer in presuming that Rs. 6,17,968/- pertained to another undisclosed bank account and, on that erroneous assumption, increasing the turnover to Rs. 1,00,37,361/- and recomputing income, without bringing any cogent material on record to justify such enhancement. 5. The Ld. CIT(A) is not justified in confirming the addition of Rs. 3,00,689/- made by applying a blanket rate of 10% on the alleged enhanced turnover of Rs. 1,00,37,361/- purely on presumption and assumptions, without rejecting the income declared under section 44AD and without bringing any cogent material on record to justify such estimation. 6. The appellant craves leave to add, amend, modify, rescind, supplement or alter any or more grounds of appeal stated herein above either before....
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....ice u/sec.148 dated 09.04.2022 was issued after expiry of three years from the end of the assessment year under consideration therefore, the Competent Authority to grant approval for issuing notice u/sec.148 as per sec.151(ii) of the Act as exist at the relevant point of time i.e., the date of issuing the notice u/sec.148 is the CCIT/DGIT and not Pr. CIT. An identical issue has been considered by Hon'ble jurisdictional Telangana High Court in the case of Deloitte Consulting India (P.) Ltd., vs. Assessment Unit Income Tax Department, National Faceless Assessment Centre, New Delhi (supra) in Para nos. 48 to 50 as under: "48. The proviso to Section 151 has been introduced by the Finance Act, 2023 with effect from 01.04.2023. The relevant Section 151 with its proviso is applicable to the case of the petitioner is quoted hereunder: 151. Sanction for issue of notice: - Specified authority for the purposes of Section 148 and Section 148A shall be,- (i) Principal Commissioner or Principal Director or Commissioner or Director, if three years or less than three years have elapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year. (ii) Principal Chief Commission....
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....notice under Section 148 of the Act on 07.04.2022 that such a proviso excluding the period consumed in furnishing the reply is going to be brought into the statute book by amendment by the Finance Act, 2023 with effect from 01.04.2023. In taxing statutes, intendment cannot be assumed unless specifically expressed in the provision enacted by the legislature. Therefore, the reopening of assessment without sanction/approval of the specified authority in accordance with Section 151 of the Act was bad in law. Consequently, reassessment order dated 16.01.2024 also is bad in law." 9.2. Thus, on identical facts the Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court has held that the notice issued u/sec.148 of the Act dated 07.04.2022 which is after three years from the end of the assessment year by taking the prior approval from the Pr. CIT is invalid and bad in law and consequently, the reassessment order passed by the Assessing Officer is also bad in law. By following the above Judgment of Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court, the Coordinate Bench of ITAT, Hyderabad in the case of Vijaya Malisetty, Khammam vs. ITO, Ward-1, Khammam (supra) has held in Para nos. 14 to 16 as under: "14. At this sta....
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....s have lapsed from the end of the relevant assessment year. In the present case, the relevant three years lapsed on 31.03.2022. Therefore, the prior approval of the Principal Chief Commissioner or Principal Director General or the Chief Commissioner or the Director General was required to be obtained before passing of the order under Section 148A(d) or before issuance of the notice under Section 148 of the Act. 50. Learned counsel for the respondent has relied upon the proviso to Section 151 of the Act inserted by the Finance Act, 2023 with effect from 01.04.2023 quoted above to contend that the period of seven days furnished to the assessee to submit reply to the notice under Section 148A(b) issued on 23.03.2022 has to be excluded for counting the period of three years. It is submitted that the proviso is clarificatory in nature and as such, it would operate from the date when the amended Section 151 was brought into force i.e., 01.04.2021. However, such a contention is fit to be rejected since the proviso to Section 151 has been inserted by the Finance Act, 2023 only with effect from 01.04.2023. It, therefore, cannot be applied retrospectively to exclude the period of se....
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.... the assessment so framed by him u/s.147 r.w.s. 144 r.w.s 144B of the Act, dated 13/02/2024, being devoid and bereft of any valid assumption of jurisdiction, is liable to be quashed. Accordingly, we quash the assessment framed by the A.O. under Section 147 r.w.s 144 r.w.s 144B of the Act, dated 13.02.2024, in terms of our aforesaid observations." 9.3. Accordingly, by following the Judgment of Hon'ble jurisdictional High Court as well as the decision of Coordinate Bench of this Tribunal (supra) and to maintain the rule of consistency, I am of the considered opinion that the Order passed by the Assessing Officer u/sec.148A(d) as well as notice issued u/sec.148 of the Act dated 09.04.2022 by taking the prior approval of Pr. CIT is not valid and liable to be quashed. I order accordingly. 10. Since the notice issued u/sec.148 of the Act is quashed being invalid it vitiates the re-assessment order passed by the Assessing Officer therefore, the other grounds raised by the assessee become infructuous and not taken up for adjudication. 11. In the result, appeal of the Assessee is allowed. Order pronounced in the open court on 05.08.2026 ============= Document 1 GOVER....