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2018 (7) TMI 1816 - HC - Income TaxReopening of assessment - reason to believe - deductions/exemptions under sections 54EC and 54F - Held that:- Neither in the notices dated March 31, 2017 nor in the reasons furnished in September/October, 2017, did the Assessing Officer record the presence of the jurisdictional conditions for reopening the subject assessments. Even thereafter, when she rejected the petitioners' objections under her letters dated November 17, 2017, the Assessing Officer did not do so. Assessing Officer never opined that issue of the subject notices was warranted on the ground that the petitioners did not disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for their assessment or that the income that escaped assessment during that year amounted to or was likely to amount to one lakh rupees or more. The absence of these jurisdictional conditions in her reasons for seeking to reopen the assessments beyond four years is fatal to the very issuance of the impugned notices. The reasons communicated by the Assessing Officer to the petitioners must be the same reasons furnished to the competent authority for seeking approval under section 151 of the Act of 1961, as the Assessing Officer cannot modify, add to or delete from such reasons to suit her own purposes at different points of time. Further, when the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer are the only material that can be looked into by the competent authority for granting approval under section 151 of the Act of 1961, the absence of such jurisdictional conditions therein would invariably vitiate the approval, if any, by the competent authority, as he could not have recorded the requisite satisfaction under section 151 of the Act of 1961, when the fundamental jurisdictional conditions justifying the reopening of the assessments beyond the normal four-year period did not even find mention in the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer. On the above analysis, this court finds that reopening of the petitioners' assessments for the assessment year 2010-11 by way of the notices dated March 31, 2017 issued under section 148 of the Act of 1961 and the rejection of their objections thereto by the letters dated November 17, 2017 cannot be sustained on grounds more than one. The attempt on the part of the Revenue to do so is an abuse of power as the facts demonstrate that the very basis for such reopening was the subject matter of the appeals before the Appellate Tribunal and, thereafter, before this court - Decided in favour of assessee
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