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2012 (6) TMI 810 - HC - Income TaxValidity of assessment - best judgment assessment - violating section 158B(a) - denial of natural justice - Held that:- In view of the second proviso to section 144(1), in a case where notice under section 142(1) has been issued, it is not necessary for the assessing officer to give an opportunity of hearing to tire assessee as provided in section 144(1), prior to making a best judgment assessment. As already seen in the preceding paras, this is a case where notice under section 142(1) was issued to the petitioner and it has also been found that such notices were properly served. Therefore, this case is covered by the second proviso to section 144(1) of the Act and hence there is no substance in the complaint that best judgment assessment was completed without affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. The petitioner has miserably failed to prove that any documents were sought for by him or that on account of refusal to furnish the same, any prejudice was caused to him to sustain a plea of violation of the principles of natural justice. Unable to accept the case of the petitioner that in finalising the assessment under section 144 of the Act, natural justice was violated. In this case, since proceedings for assessment were initiated following a search under section 132, the special procedure as provided in Chapter XTV-B has to be followed. In such a case, the assessment to be completed has to be for the block period as defined in section 158B(a) and the block period includes the period upto the date of commencement of search, in addition to the six assessment years preceding the previous year in which the search was conducted. Insofar as this case is concerned, apart from contending that the assessment under section 144 is beyond the six years, petitioner does not have a case that the assessment for 2009-2010 has been completed violating section 158B(a) of the Act. Therefore, Writ Petn. where Ext. P17 is challenged has to be dismissed.
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