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TMI Blog2017 (9) TMI 657X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 11. 2. The assessee has filed grounds of appeal wherein the assessee has inter-alia challenged the assumption of jurisdiction under s.147 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") without applying with the provisions of section 147 r.w.s.151 of the Act. 3. The Ld.AR for the assessee Ms.Grishma Soni to begin with, has vehemently challenged the jurisdiction assumed by the Assessing Officer (AO) under s.147 of the Act. The Ld.AR for the assessee contended that in this case the assessment was completed under s.143(1) of the Act. Thereafter, the case was reopened under s.147 by issuance of notice under s.148 of the Act dated 20/03/2011. Consequently, the assessment was completed under s.143(3) r.w.s.147 of the Act vide ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hstanding the fact that authorities superior to the competent authority designated for such approval has actually endorsed the action of the AO. It was stated that the identical issue has been dealt with in favour of assessee by the decision of the Coordinate Bench rendered in the case of Arvindbhai Ramjibhai Patel (HUF) vs. ITO in ITA No.3448/Ahd/2014 for AY 2005-06 dated 12/06/2017. 5. The Ld.DR for the Revenue, Mr.Deepak Sutaria could not controvert the claim of the assessee that approval has been obtained from Addl.Commissioner and not the Commissioner concerned. The Ld.DR however relied upon the order of the CIT(A). 6. We have carefully perused the orders of the authorities below. The objection on the assumption of the jurisdiction h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urities Pvt.Ltd. by the DDIT (Investigation), Unit-l(4), Mumbai on 25/11/2009. The search led to detailed investigation regarding transactions taken in the bank accounts of the concerned company and its sister concerns i.e. Gold Star Finvest (Pvt) Ltd. etc. The directors of these companies are Shri Mukesh M.Chokshi and Shri Jayesh K.Sampat. During the course of search, it is found that the group companies are engaged in fraudulent billing activities and indulge in the business of providing bogus speculation profit/ loss, short term/ long term capital gain/loss, share application money, commodity profit/ loss on commodity trading (through MCX) since many years. On verification of the list of clients, who have taken accommodation entries from ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s.143(3) of the Act, the assessment is not governed by first proviso to S.147. The AO also relied upon the 'satisfaction' formulated by the CIT concerned under s.151 of the Act for the purposes of issuance of notice under s.148 of the Act. We have perused the form of approval obtained by AO from the superior authority and find that although Addl.CIT has noted that he is satisfied with the reasons for reopening the assessment, the 'satisfaction' note was further sent to the Commissioner for its ultimate approval. Clearly the entire procedure of obtaining approval culminated with the Commissioner. Section 151 provides that where the notice under s.148 of the Act is issued after expiry of a period of four years from the end of the relevant as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... jurisdiction usurped by the AO under s.147 is unsustainable in law. Consequently, the reassessment made pursuant thereto is devoid of legal sanction. Accordingly, we find merit in the preliminary objection raised by the assessee towards reopening assessment under s.147. Since the action of re-opening is found to be unsustainable, we do not consider it necessary to adjudicate the ground taken by the assessee on merits." 7. In parity, we find considerable merit in the objection raised by the assessee. In the absence of approval of the competent authority designated under s.151 of the Act, the notice issued under s.148 of the Act for assumption of jurisdiction under s.147 is vitiated and non-est. The entire reassessment proceedings is accordi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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