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2017 (9) TMI 588 - DELHI HIGH COURTReopening of assessment - reasons to believe - Held that:- Revenue has no answer to the submission that the entire exercise undertaken by the ITO (Inv.) was without jurisdiction. Which is why in the counter affidavit filed in the present writ petition, the stand taken by the Revenue is that it is not the only reason for re-opening the assessment. The fact remains that it could not form tangible material for re-opening the assessment. The fact remains that the power under Section 131 (1A) can be exercised only by officers named therein and they are all officers in the Department superior to the ITO. If the ITO had to exercise the powers under that provision, he had to be duly authorized to do so. He clearly was not and, therefore, the reports submitted by him could not have formed the valid basis for re-opening the assessment. The third material referred to in the reasons for reopening the assessment, is the investigation undertaken by the DGIT (Vigilance) into the conduct of the erstwhile AO of the Petitioner. A perusal of the letter dated 2nd November 2011 written by the Director (Vigilance) to the DGIT (Vigilance) does not throw any light on any material relevant to AY 2009- 10. In fact, the concluding paragraph of the said letter a request is made for reopening of the assessment for the AY 2007-08 by invoking Section 263 of the Act. This explains why that route was resorted to for AY 2007-08. This Court is therefore satisfied that the jurisdictional requirement for reopening of the assessment for AY 2009-10 has not been fulfilled in the present case. Consequently, the notice dated 29th March 2016 issued by the AO under Section 148 of the Act as well as the consequent order dated 4th July 2016 of the AO rejecting the Petitioner’s objections, are hereby quashed.
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