Inquiry before assessment: AO empowered to call for documents and order special audits, with senior approval and procedural safeguards.
Clause 268 creates a structured regime for Inquiry before assessment granting the Assessing Officer power to call for returns, accounts, documents and statements of assets and liabilities, subject to prior senior approval for intrusive disclosures and temporal limits on record production. It authorises special audits and inventory valuations with nominated professionals, mandates standardised forms and verifications, provides time limits for reports with limited extensions, secures the assessee's right to be heard before use of inquiry material in assessment, and shifts audit/valuation expenses to the Central Government under prescribed guidelines.