TMI Blog2022 (8) TMI 916X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... allabhbhai Patel Education Society [ 2022 (5) TMI 1159 - GUJARAT HIGH COURT] is squarely applicable to the facts of the present case. In Gian Castings Private Limited [ 2022 (6) TMI 246 - PUNJAB HARYANA HIGH COURT] the facts which were in controversy have not been set out and therefore it is not possible to assume that there is any similarity with the facts in the present proceedings. The said judgment merely records that the merits of the order passed u/s 148 were under challenge. The challenge before us as noted above is not to the merits of the order but to the breach of the statutory mandate of Section 148-A (c) of the Act, which error is evident on the face of the record. Accordingly, the judgment of the Punjab Haryana High Court in Gian Castings Private Limited (supra) offers no assistance to the respondents. Consequently, as the respondents-revenue have not examined the petitioner s plea that the petitioner-society has included all the transactions carried out by the Citizen Model School in its books of accounts, the impugned order passed on the ground that the case of the petitioner-society was of non-filing of return is set aside and the matter is remanded ba ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... person, which is not permissible as the school is run and managed by the petitioner-society and is thus a part of the petitioner-society itself. In support of his submission, he relies upon the decision of the Gujarat High Court in the case of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Education Society v. Income Tax officer Civil Application No. 20804 of 2017, wherein it has been held as under:- 3. This is a second round of litigation. The writ-applicant had come before this Court by filing the Special Civil Application No.17878 of 2016. The said writ-application was ordered to be disposed of vide order dated 11th September 2017. The order reads thus : xxx xxx xxx 3. The Assessing Officer noticed that N.G. Patel polytechnic had a separate PAN and in its savings bank account of Bank of Baroda, sizable cash amount of Rs.2.37 crores was deposited, on which, it had also received interest of Rs.2.40 lakhs. Despite this, N.G. Patel polytechnic had not filed return of income for the said assessment year 2009-10. On such basis, N.G. Patel polytechnic was served with an impugned notice dated 22.03.2016 for reopening of the assessment. The only ground recorded by the Assessing Officer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essable entity within the ambit of the Income Tax Act. Thus, if the respondent wants to assume the jurisdiction to carry out the reassessment proceedings, the respondent has to arrive at the conclusion that the aforesaid factual position taken out by the writ-applicant Trust is factually incorrect .. xxx xxx xxx xxx Our final conclusions may be summarised as under : xxx xxx xxx (vi) The basic requirement that there has to be income which has escaped the assessment is completely missing as the Department itself has assessed the income of the Polytechnic and other institutes run by the Society as the income of the Society and in fact even in the later assessment years i.e. for the Assessment Years 2016-17 to 2018-19 in scrutiny assessment in 143(3) assessed the income so offered as the income of the writ-applicant Society itself. 6. In view of the aforesaid, these writ-applications succeed and are hereby allowed. The impugned notice issued under Section 148 of the Act for the relevant assessment years is hereby quashed and set aside. SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF RESPONDENTS-REVENUE. 6. Per contra, Mr.Sanjay Kumar, learned Senior Standing Counsel fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... CHOOL WITHOUT DEALING WITH THE CONTENTION OF THE PETITIONER-SOCIETY THAT ALL THE FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE SCHOOL HAD BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR IN ITS RETURN OF INCOME. 10. In the present case, the significance of issuance of a show cause notice at a stage prior to issuance of a re-assessment notice under Section 148 of the Act has been lost on the respondents inasmuch as the impugned order under Section 148A(d) of the Act has been passed without considering the detailed reply filed by the petitioner dated 03rd April, 2022. It is pertinent to mention that though the impugned order notes that the Citizen Model School is being run by the petitioner-society, yet it goes on to hold that income had escaped assessment as no return of income had been filed by the school without dealing with the contention of the petitioner-society that all the financial transactions of the school had been accounted for in its return of income. 11. In fact, it is the case of the petitioner-society that right from inception it has been assessed to the Income Tax Act qua Citizen Model School and that the School had aggregate annual receipt of Rs.1,82,03,712/- during the relevant assessment year and not ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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