9911796707
TMI Blog2025 (3) TMI 658X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... fs:- "a) issue a writ of and/or order and or directions in the nature of certiorari, prohibition, mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction for quashing of the impugned notice dated 01.06.2022 issued under section 148A (b) of the Act, order dated 29.07.2022 passed under section 148A (d) of the Act and consequential notice issued under section 148 of the Act dated 29.07.2022 by the Respondent No. 1 for the assessment year 2016-17; b) set aside the Instruction No. 1 dated 11.05.2022 issued by Respondent No. 4 (CBDT) which ultra-virus to the Act;" 2. Before us the solitary argument which is addressed today is with respect to the validity of the sanction which was accorded to the reassessment action by the Principal Commis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pparent that the reassessment action would not sustain. 6. Dealing with an identical question, we had in Abhinav Jindal HUF v. Commissioner of Income Tax and Ors 2024 SCC OnLine Del 6585 held as under:- "30. Tested on the principles which were enunciated in Suman Jeet Agarwal v. ITO [(2022) 449 ITR 517 (Delhi); 2022 SCC OnLine Del 3141.], the petitioners would appear to be correct in their submission of the date liable to be ascribed to the impugned notices and those being viewed as having been issued and dispatched after April 1, 2021. However, and in our considered opinion, the same would be of little relevance or significance when one bears in mind the indubitable fact that all the notices were approved by the Joint Commissioner of In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assed on behalf of the respondents is contained in section 3 itself and which purported to extend the period for completion of proceedings, passing of an order, issuance of a notice, intimation, notification, sanction or approval. The provision extended the time limit for such action, notwithstanding anything contained in the specified Act, initially up to March 31, 2021 and which date was extended subsequently to April 30, 2021 and lastly up to June 31, 2021. 36. Section 3 thus essentially extended the time period statutorily prescribed for initiation and compliance up to the dates notified by the Union Government from time to time. The extension of these timelines was intended to apply to all statutes which were included in the expressi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act as intending to amend the distribution of power or the categorisation envisaged and prescribed by section 151. The additional time that the said statute provided to an authority cannot possibly be construed as altering or modifying the hierarchy or the structure set up by section 151 of the Act. The issue of approval would still be liable to be answered based on whether the reassessment was commenced after or within a period of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year or as per the amended regime dependent upon whether action was being proposed within three years of the end of the relevant assessment year or thereafter. The bifurcation of those powers woul ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ition which would emerge if the actions were tested on the basis of the amended section 151 and which divides the power of sanction amongst two sets of authorities based on whether reassessment is commenced within three years or thereafter. 40. What we seek to emphasise is that the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act authorisation merely enables the competent authority to take action within the extended time period and irrespective of the closure which would have ordinarily come about by virtue of the provisions contained in the Act. It does not alter or amend the structure for approval and sanction which stands erected by virtue of section 151. The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... where a specified Act may have prescribed a particular time limit within which an action may be approved. That is clearly not the position which obtains here. We thus find ourselves unable to sustain the impugned action of reassessment. The impugned notices which rest on a sanction obtained from the Joint Commissioner of Income-tax would thus be liable to be quashed." Consequently, and for the aforesaid reasons, we find ourselves unable to sustain the reassessment action on this short score alone. 7. Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed. The impugned order referable to Section 148A(d) and notice under Section 148, both dated 29 July 2022 are quashed. However, the present order shall be without prejudice to the right of the responden ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
