9911796707
TMI Blog2014 (6) TMI 223X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 133A of the Act from the business and office premises of the assessee but also those were test checked and evaluated in undertaking that exercise. The endeavour on the part of the AO to initiate a reassessment proceeding u/s 147/148 of the Act on the ground that the same records/documents did disclose that the amount had escaped assessment, is unconvincing and untenable as well - Such a conclusion does certainly stem from a change in opinion - a mere change in the opinion of the AO after completion of the assessment u/s 143(3) of the Act is not a legally approved determinant for valid initiation of reassessment proceeding u/s 147 of the Act the essential and inviolable condition precedent therefor being the reason to believe that any in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uding loose papers pertaining to the assessment year 2003-04 were found and impounded. It submitted its return of income at Rs. 34,889 on September 27, 2003, and eventually following an assessment under section 143(3) of the Act, its taxable income was computed at Rs. 1,52,130. The assessee, thereafter, filed an application seeking permission to release his books of account and other records, as the assessment had already been completed and the demand on the basis thereof been paid. The Assessing Officer, however, subsequent thereto initiated reassess- ment proceedings under section 148 of the Act on March 23, 2007, by scripting in essence that the assessee's books of account impounded following the survey, did disclosure that an inc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t and issue involved under section 147/148 of the Income-tax Act for the year under consideration (2003-04) are illegal and, therefore, cannot be initiated against the assessee ? Mr. Bissa, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant, has emphatically argued that in the face of the disclosures surfacing from the documents and records impounded in the course of the survey, the initi- ation of the proceedings under section 148 of the Act and the reassessment made is valid and that the determination to the contrary made by the learned Tribunal is patently illegal warranting interference in the instant appeal. According to the learned counsel, having regard to the grounds recorded by the Assessing Officer based on the disclosures a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 133A as well as the impounding of the documents found in course thereof which remained with the Department since thereafter. That these impounded documents and records were test checked was affirmed as well in the assessment order. The Tribunal noticed that the assessment order under section 143(3) of the Act was made after duly considering the mate- rials discovered during the course of the survey. It, thus, recorded its con- clusion that the assessment was made on due application of mind to all the available records. Referring to various judicial pronouncements, the Tribu- nal held that section 147 of the Act did not postulate conferment of power upon the Assessing Officer to initiate proceedings on the basis of mere change of opinion. Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and circumstances of the case, in our com- prehension, does certainly stem from a change in opinion, entertained by the Assessing Officer. It is no longer res integra that a mere change in the opinion of the Assessing Officer after completion of the assessment under section 143(3) of the Act is not a legally approved determinant for valid initiation of reas- sessment proceeding under section 147 of the Act the essential and invi- olable condition precedent therefor being the reason to believe that any income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment. Such a reason has to be essentially traceable to discoveries and satisfaction from new and hitherto unexplored sources and materials and not to a view of his own differently oriented on the b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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