9911796707
TMI Blog1993 (7) TMI 113X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and 217/215 for all the four years under consideration by relying upon the decision of the Karnataka High Court in the case of Charles D'Souza v. CIT [1984] 147 ITR 694. 2. Before us, the departmental representative has strongly contended that the Dy. Commissioner (Appeals) was not correct in relying on the above mentioned decision of the Karnataka High Court inasmuch as the said decision related to a case of assessment/re-assessment under section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, whereas in the present cases, the interests have been levied in assessments which cannot be said to be in strict sense to be re-assessments. It is stated that these assessments have been made by the Assessing Officer consequent upon setting aside of the original ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to levy of interests for assessment year 1984-85. 4. On a proper consideration of the legal issue involved, we feel that there is sufficient force in the argument of the departmental representative. " Regular assessment " has been defined in section 2(40) to mean assessment made under section 143(3) or section 144. It has been held by various High Courts that an assessment or re-assessment made under the provisions of section 147 cannot be considered as a " regular assessment ". The idea behind this opinion is that a " regular assessment " should mean an assessment of the income of the assessee at the original stage. The provisions of section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, essentially relate to cases involving escapement of income from ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... simply take place of the original assessments and should, therefore, possess all the characteristics of the original assessments. In such cases, therefore, there should be no reason why these re-assessments should also not be considered as regular assessments, especially when these re-assessments are required to be done essentially in accordance with the provisions of section 143(3) or 144. Here, the assessments are not being done afresh in accordance with the provisions of section 250, but the original assessments are merely set aside by the appellate authority in accordance with the provisions of section 250. Once the original assessments are set aside, all the incidence pertaining to the making of the original assessments should reappear ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssment to be made under section 263 under the direction of the Commissioner of Income-tax, it is quite likely that the said fresh assessment will be limited only to the extent of directions given by the Commissioner of Income-tax and that a part of the original assessment would remain as it is and only the other part would be revised. In that view only, it appears that the High Court gave its finding that a fresh assessment made pursuant to the order of the Commissioner of Income-tax under section 263 cannot be considered as a " regular assessment ". 6. On the other hand, the Full Bench of the Gujarat High Court has made the following observations in its judgment as referred to above in Bardolia Textile Mill's case : " Interest on the e ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... original assessment by the appellate authority (as are the cases here) was considered. We, therefore, feel ourselves inclined to follow the Full Bench decision of the Gujarat High Court rather in preference to the other decision of the Rajasthan High Court and decide the issue in favour of the department. It has further more been found from a perusal of the re-assessment orders under consideration that the original assessments were set aside in these cases by the appellate authority, inter alia, amongst other reasons, also for the purpose of giving an opportunity to the assessee regarding levy of interests under sections 139(8) and 217. It thus appears that in the original assessments also, interests under both the sections had been levied ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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