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TMI Blog2021 (8) TMI 161X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... There are long line of judicial precedents delivered both by the Jurisdictional High Court as well as other High Courts for the proposition that re-assessment notice for mere verification or for conducting a fishing enquiry is not permissible in law notwithstanding that the return of income was not subjected the scrutiny under s. 143(3) of the Act. The action of the AO for invoking jurisdiction is thus inconsistent with the mandate of law and therefore requires to be quashed. It is well settled by plethora of judicial precedents, including Pr. CIT vs. Manzil Dineshkumar Shah [ 2018 (5) TMI 1176 - GUJARAT HIGH COURT] the SLP against which has been dismissed [ 2019 (1) TMI 1284 - SC ORDER] that reopening is not permissible merely to seek ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inst the returned income of ₹ 70,340/-. 2.1. Aggrieved by the enhancement in the returned income, the assessee filed appeal before the CIT(A) inter alia challenging the legality of jurisdiction under s. 147 of the Act. The CIT(A), however, dismissed the legal ground towards wrongful assumption of jurisdiction under s. 147 of the Act. 2.2. Aggrieved by the first appellate order, the Revenue filed appeal before the tribunal against the relief granted by the CIT(A) on aspects of merits. The assessee also filed cross objections under s. 253(4) of the Act. In pursuance thereof, the ITAT has set aside both the appeal of the Revenue as well as cross objection of the assessee. It was held by the Tribunal that since impugned proceedings ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ackground quoted above, the learned counsel for the assessee adverted to para No. 2 of the assessment order wherein the reasons recorded for issue of notice under s. 148 of the Act was extracted. It was pointed out that on a perusal of the reasons recorded, it can be seen that the ingredients of Section 147 of the Act are not fulfilled in the instant case in as much as the jurisdiction for reopening the concluded assessment was carried out only to 'verify' the genuineness of the facts which were the basis for assuming the jurisdiction. The learned counsel thus submitted that the assessment was reopened merely to verify the fact and as a corollary, the belief of the AO on the reasons is conspicuously absent. In the absence of the bel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... arh to get the assessment order passed in this case. On perusal of Sales Tax assessment order, it is found that there were certain anomalies in sales shown by the assessee and therefore, further taxes and penalties have been imposed by the Sales Tax Department. In order to verify the genuineness of the facts, a notice u/s. 148 of Income Tax Act, 1961, is issued as it appears that there are certain income which has escaped from assessment. 8. On a bare reading of the body of the reasons recorded, it can be seen that the initiation of proceedings under s. 147 of the Act by the AO is based on certain information stated to be received from Sales Tax Department. Based on such information, the AO has proposed to reopen the case inter alia wi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hus inconsistent with the mandate of law and therefore requires to be quashed. 9. It is well settled by plethora of judicial precedents, including Pr. CIT vs. Manzil Dineshkumar Shah (2018) 406 ITR 326 (Guj), the SLP against which has been dismissed in (2019) 101 taxmann.com 259 (SC) that reopening is not permissible merely to seek investigation of facts collected without holding at least prima facie belief towards escapement of income based on relevant material. The conditions set out for invocation of Section 147 of the Act have not been met in the instant case. Hence, the notice issued under section 148 of the Act is not backed by authority of law and consequently bad in law. 10. The assessment under section 147 of the Act as a seq ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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