2016 (2) TMI 797 - KARNATAKA HIGH COURT

Assessment reopened on the basis of search - accounts in Tally copied and seized at the time of search - addition to income - Held that:- If assessment is allowed to be reopened on the basis of search, in which no incriminating material had been found, and merely on the basis of further investigating the books of account which had been already submitted by the assessee and accepted by the Assessing Officer at the time of regular assessment, the same would amount to the Revenue getting a second opportunity to reopen the concluded assessment, which is not permissible under the law. Merely because a search is conducted in the premises of the assessee, would not entitle the Revenue to initiate the process of reassessment, for which there is a separate procedure prescribed in the statute. It is only when the conditions prescribed for reassessment are fulfilled that a concluded assessment can be reopened. The very same accounts which were submitted by the assessee, on the basis of which assessment had been concluded, cannot be reappreciated by the Assessing Officer merely because a search had been conducted in the premises of the assessee. - Decided in favour of assessee