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Issues involved: Appeal u/s 260 of the Income Tax Act regarding reopening of assessment and validity of sanction u/s 151.
Summary: The appellant, claiming the status of a trust, filed returns for the assessment year 2001-2002. The assessment was finalized under Sec. 143(3) of the Act, but was later reopened u/s 148, resulting in a reassessment order disentitling the appellant of certain benefits and assessing a total income and tax liability. The appellant contended that the reopening was invalid due to lack of requisite sanction u/s 151. Appeals to the Commissioner of Income Tax and the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal were unsuccessful. The present appeal u/s 260-A raised questions regarding the validity of the sanction and the initiation of reassessment proceedings. Upon perusing the impugned order and relevant sections of the Act, the court noted that the existence of sanction u/s 151 is a question of fact. Both lower authorities had found against the appellant on this issue, and as such, it was held that such factual questions cannot be examined in an appeal u/s 260, even though the legality of the reopening itself may be a question of law. The court found that the lower authorities had already addressed and decided the issue of sanction against the appellant, leading to the dismissal of the appeal at the admission stage. No substantial question of law was found to arise for examination in this case.
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