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TMI Blog2025 (2) TMI 537X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... allenging the orders passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-3, Noida ('Ld. CIT(A) for short), dated 18/06/2024. 2. The Assessee has raised several grounds Appeal in all the above captioned Appeals, in Ground No. 1 the Assessee, it has been contended that, the Ld. CIT (A) -3 Noida erred in not quashing the impugned assessment framed u/s 153A/143(3) of the Act vide order dated 19/08/2021 being based on invalid approval u/s 153D of the Act. 3. Brief facts of the case are that, the assessment proceedings have been initiated against the Assessee pursuant to a search and seizure operation dated 30/07/2018 conducted u/s 132 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ('Act' for short) at the residential as well as business premises of Assessee's comprising M/s P. S. Enterprises and ors group of cases. In all the above cases, an approval u/s 153D of the Act dated 11/08/2021 has been issued by the Addl. Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Range, Meerut in respect of the assessment years 2013-14 to 2019-20 pursuant to the office letter of DCIT, Central Circle, Ghaziabad/A.O. dated 11/08/2021.Based on the said approval granted u/s 153D of the Act, the assessment proceedings have been initiated ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion Wing and is involved with the Ld. AO from time to time while issuing various questionnaires. The ld. ACIT in Central Range also examined the seized documents in detail in respect of each Assessment Years immediately after receipt of the appraisal report and provided able assistance to the Ld. AO about the interpretation of the said seized documents while issuing questionnaires to Assessee's, examining the replies filed by the Assessee's and drawing conclusions thereon. Thus, submitted that it is very easy for the ld. ACIT to grant approval of the draft assessment order on the same day since the Ld. ACIT is involved with the assessment proceedings right from the inception. Therefore, submitted that the by contention of the Assessee's Representative that the Ld. ACIT has given mechanical approval has no force. 8. Further, the Ld. DR vehemently argued that bare reading of provisions of section 153D of the Act, which provides only about existence of approval from the ld. ACIT. There is no mention of application of mind on the part of the ld. ACIT or the approving authority in the said section. The expression "application of mind" is only provided by the judicial decisions and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aforesaid provisions, in consonance with the true spirit of the scheme of the Act, it is the bounden duty of the Ld. AO to seek to place the draft assessment order together with copies of the seized documents before the ld. JCIT well in time much before the due date of completion of search assessment. The ld. JCIT is supposed to examine the seized documents, questionnaires raised by the Ld. AO on the assessee seeking explanation of contents in the seized documents, replies filed by the assessee in response to the questionnaires issued by the Ld. AO and the conclusions drawn by the Ld. AO vis- à-vis the said seized documents after considering the reply of the assessee. All these functions, as stated earlier, are to be performed by the ld. JCIT in a judicious way after due application of mind. Even though as vehemently argued by the Ld. CIT-DR, the ld. JCIT is involved with the search assessment proceedings right from the time of receipt of appraisal report from the Investigation Wing, still, the ld. JCIT, while granting the approval u/s 153D of the Act has to independently apply his mind dehors the conclusions drawn either by the Investigation Wing in the appraisal report or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Act. In our considered opinion, if the arguments of the Ld. CIT DR are to be appreciated that the ld. JCIT need not apply his mind while granting approval of the draft assessment orders u/s 153D of the Act as it is not provided in section 153D of the Act, then it would make the entire approval proceedings contemplated u/s 153D of the Act otiose. The law provides only the Ld. AO to frame the assessment, but, certain checks and balances are provided in the Act by conferring powers on the ld. JCIT to grant judicious approval u/s 153D of the Act to the draft assessment orders placed by the Ld. AO. 9. Let us now examine whether in the aforesaid background of the scheme of the Act, whether the approval in terms of section 153D of the Act has been granted by the ld. JCIT in a judicious way after due application of mind or not, in the instant case. We have gone through the approval granted by the ld. JCIT on 27.03.2015 u/s 153D of the Act. The said approval letter clearly states that a letter dated 27.03.2015 was filed by the Ld. AO before the ld. JCIT seeking approval of draft assessment order u/s 153D of the Act. The ld. JCIT has accorded approval for the said draft assessment order ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly the draft assessment order without any assessment records what to say about the search material. As mentioned earlier, there are infirmities in the figures of original return of income as well as total assessed and the Addl. CIT while giving his approval has not applied Page | 10 SEH Realtors Pvt. Ltd his mind to the figures mentioned by the AO. Therefore, approval given in the instant case by the Addl. CIT, in our opinion, is not valid in the eyes of law. We, therefore, hold that approval given u/s 153D has been granted in a mechanical manner and without application of mind and thus it is invalid and bad in law and consequently vitiated the assessment order for want of valid approval u/s 153D of the Act. In view of the above discussion, we hold that the order passed u/s 153A r.w.s. 143(3) has to be quashed, thus ordered accordingly. The ground raised by the Assessee is accordingly allowed". [Emphasis is ours] 14. In this appeal, we are required to examine whether any substantial question of law arises for our consideration. 15. Having regard to the findings returned by the Tribunal, which are findings of fact, in our view, no substantial question of law arises for our c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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