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TMI Blog2024 (7) TMI 446X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere concluded. Accordingly, in our view, notice u/s 148 of the Act seeking reopening of the concluded assessment is nothing but mere change of opinion. Decided in favour of assessee. - HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA AND HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NIRAL R. MEHTA Appearance: For the Petitioner(s) No. 1 : Ms Vaibhavi K Parikh (3238) For the Respondent(s) No. 1,2 : Mr. Varun K. Patel (3802). ORAL ORDER (PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE NIRAL R. MEHTA) 1. By way of this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has sought to challenge the Notice dated 31.3.2021 under Section 148 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 (for short the Act ) seeking, inter-alia, reopening of the assessment for the Assessment Year 2015-16. 2. Brief facts of the case are as under : 2.1 The petitioner was engaged in e-commerce, information technology and IT enabled services. During the year under consideration, the petitioner had issued shares at premium at Rs. 415/- per share. As a result thereof, in the annual account under the head security s premium which was Rs. 1,03,58,75,980/- as on 31.3.2014 increased to Rs. 2,28,09,76,200/- as on 31.3.2015. Thus, Rs. 1,24,51,00,220/- increased in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ner as to true and full disclosure. To substantiate the aforesaid contention, learned Senior advocate has heavily placed reliance on the various documents such as annual account, notice dated 20.3.2017, letter dated 6.4.2017 and assessment order dated 20.4.2017. In view of aforesaid, learned Senior Advocate Mr. Tushar Hemani submitted that the conditions for reopening beyond the period of 4 years are not satisfied and thereby, the impugned notice deserves to be quashed and set aside. (2) Learned Senior Advocate Mr. Hemani submitted that the reopening is based on merely a change of opinion. He further submitted that the case of the petitioner was selected for scrutiny and in that scrutiny, the case of the petitioner was examined thoroughly and at that stage, various documents were produced on record and keeping in mind those documents, order under Section 143(3) of the Act was passed. Now, on the same line, notice under Section 148 of the Act has been issued which is nothing but a change of opinion. Under the circumstances, according to learned Senior Advocate, once the opinion is formed at the time of assessment at the original stage based on documentary evidence, it will not be pe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Assessing Officer has to have prima facie opinion that there is sufficient material on which reasonable person could have formed a requisite belief. Learned advocate further submitted that in the instant case, as per the information received from the investigation wing, it has been noticed that the petitioner has been issued 2989208 shares of share premium of Rs. 415/- and thereby the share premium reserve for drastically increased to the extent of Rs. 124,51,00,220/-. Learned advocate, therefore, submitted that in view of unnatural hike in share premium reserve, it gives rise to strong suspicion on the aspect of genuineness and creditworthiness of the share subscribers. Thus, the impugned notice under Section 148 of the Act has been issued in accordance with law and with all pre-requisite criteria. (4) Learned advocate Mr. Patel lastly submitted that there cannot be said to be change of opinion in the present case. To substantiate the said contention, learned advocate vehemently submitted that while passing the original assessment order, the details and documents which were sought and considered on other issues and those issues do not correlate with the issue on which the impug ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y the Assessing Officer. For the sake of brevity, the same is extracted hereinbelow. 3. After verification of the case, the I.O. has found that .....In this case, information was received for the verification of 29,89,208 issued shares on share premium of Rs. 415/-on different dates as mentioned above in table A in FY 2014-15. Notice u/s. 133 (6) of the IT Act was issued to the assessee company on different dates as mentioned above. In response of the notice issued the assessee has submitted details for the same. A) Findings of ACIT: On verification of details on ITBA, it is noticed that the case of the assessee was selected for detailed Scrutiny assessment u/s 143(3) of the IT Act for AY 2015-16. Hence, e-mail through official webmail portal was sent on 14.10.2020 to DCIT, Circle-2(1)(1), Ahmedabad requesting him to provide copy of Assessment Order u/s. 143(3) of the I.T. Act and copy of notices issued u/s 142 (1) of the Act for A.Y. 2015-16. In response to the said e-mail, reply was received on 19.10.2020 where copy of assessment order u/s 143(3) of IT Act dated 28.04.2017 was provided alongwith copy of notices u/ s 142 (1) of IT Act dated 20.03.2017. It was observed that the iss ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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