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TMI Blog2023 (3) TMI 864X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ions available to the petitioner. In the absence of such materials and necessary informations to the petitioner by the department it cannot be expected that the petitioner would be in a position to justify his acts and conduct, nor would he be able to provide for the reasonable explanation to these informations which have been collected and relied by the department, but have not been made available to the petitioner. Thus notice u/s 148A(d) and u/s 148 issued in this regard by the department are set-aside/quashed. The matter stands remitted back to the department concerned with a further direction that in the light of the decision of Union of India others v. Ashish Agrawal ( 2022 (5) TMI 240 - SUPREME COURT] the necessary informations and material documents are made available to the petitioner, those which are referred to in the notice u/s 148A(b) - Decided in favour of assessee. - Hon'ble Shri Justice P. Sam Koshy For Petitioner : Mr. Siddharth Dubey, Advocate and Mr. Harshwardhan Parganiha, Adv. For Respondent No.1 : Mr. Tushar Dhar Diwan, Advocate For Respondents No.2 to 5 : Mr. Ajay Kumrani, Advocate on behalf of Mr. Amit Choudhari, Advocate ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r of Income Tax) decided on 01.09.2022 on almost similar set of facts. 5. Per contra, learned counsel for the respondents opposing the petition submits that the petitioner was served with the notice Annexure P/1 under Section 148(b) on 26.05.2022 and the petitioner has without any objection submitted his reply on 06.06.2022, however in the said reply he had not raised these grounds nor had he made any claim for providing of these informations and documents. It was also the contention of the department that the plain reading of the notice under Section 148(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 issued to the petitioner on 26.05.2022 would show that the notice contained all the relevant informations in respect of the notice that was issued to the petitioner and as such it is not a case where he was not aware of the contents and the grounds on which the department intended to prosecute him. 6. It would be relevant at this juncture to take note of the decision of the Delhi High Court wherein the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in the case of Mahashian Di Hatti Pvt. Limited v. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax (supra) has in paragraphs No. 6 to 8 has held as under: 6. This C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tter dated 08.06.2022 has not been made available to the petitioner by the department. The plain reading of the notice Annexure P/1 dated 26.05.2022 issued under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 would reveal that though there is a reference of these informations by the department but the department as such has not made these documents and material informations available to the petitioner. In the absence of such materials and necessary informations to the petitioner by the department it cannot be expected that the petitioner would be in a position to justify his acts and conduct, nor would he be able to provide for the reasonable explanation to these informations which have been collected and relied by the department, but have not been made available to the petitioner. 8. What is also necessary to be appreciated is the fact that the judgment of the Delhi High Court referred to in the preceding paragraph is based upon another recent decision of the Delhi High Court reported in 2022 SCC OnLine Del 1461 (Divya Capital One Private Limited v. ACIT Ors.). Both these orders were further taking into reliance the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Union ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nce Act, 2021 and treated to be show cause notices in terms of section 148A(b). The respective assessing officers shall within thirty days from today provide to the assessees the information and material relied upon by the Revenue so that the assessees can reply to the notices within two weeks thereafter; (ii) The requirement of conducting any enquiry with the prior approval of the specified authority under section 148A(a) be dispensed with as a one time measure vis vis those notices which have been issued under Section 148 of the unamended Act from 01.04.2021 till date, including those which have been quashed by the High Courts; (iii) The assessing officers shall thereafter pass an order in terms of section 148A(d) after following the due procedure as required under section 148A(b) in respect of each of the concerned assessees; (iv) All the defences which may be available to the assessee under section 149 and/or which may be available under the Finance Act, 2021 and in law and whatever rights are available to the Assessing Officer under the Finance Act, 2021 are kept open and/or shall continue to be available and; (v) The present order shall substitute/mo ..... 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