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Issues: Applicability of section 153(2A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 to the case.
Analysis: The case involved a dispute regarding the applicability of section 153(2A) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Assessing Officer had assessed the total income of the petitioners for the assessment year 1981-82, which included disallowance of bad debts. The Tribunal later remanded the matter back to the Assessing Officer for verification of the claim related to bad debts. The Assessing Officer completed a fresh assessment in 1996 after necessary inquiries. The assessee contended that this fresh assessment fell under section 153(2A) and was beyond the time limit prescribed. However, the revisional authority rejected this contention, leading to the appeal. The key contention was whether the Tribunal's order directing verification of bad debts amounted to a fresh assessment under section 153(2A). Section 153(2A) allows for a fresh assessment within two years from the end of the financial year in which the order canceling the assessment is passed under section 254. The assessee argued that the Tribunal's order of 1989 constituted a fresh assessment, triggering the application of section 153(2A) and setting a deadline of March 31, 1991, for the fresh assessment. The High Court dismissed the assessee's contention, stating that the Tribunal's order only directed verification of the claim for bad debts and did not mandate a fresh assessment as per section 153(2A). Instead, the case fell under section 153(3), which exempts certain assessments from the time limits of sections 153(1) and (2). Section 153(3) applies to assessments made to give effect to a Tribunal's direction under section 254, which was the case here. As section 153(2A) was not attracted, the revisional authority's decision to uphold the fresh assessment was deemed correct. The appeal was accordingly disposed of.
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