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2012 (8) TMI 794 - HC - Income TaxReopening of assessment – after a period of about six years - petitioner contended that the fact regarding the show-cause notice issued by the customs authorities as well as the report in the newspaper and the electricity theft were well within the knowledge of the Assessing Officer while framing the original assessment – Held that:- If the Income-tax Officer had considered and formed an opinion on the said material in the original assessment itself, then he would be powerless to start the proceedings for reassessment - Income-tax Officer had not considered the material and subsequently came by the material from the record itself, then such a case would fall within the scope of section 147(b) of the Act. In the circumstances, the said contention also does not merit acceptance - pre-requisite conditions necessary for assumption of jurisdiction under section 147 of the Act after the expiry of a period of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year, having been satisfied - Reopening of assessment upheld Though various contentions have been advanced by the learned advocate for the petitioner contending that the electricity was being used only by the contractors and that the petitioner was not utilising the electricity for production and that the machinery on which depreciation had been claimed by the petitioner was leased out to the contractors and as such, the petitioner did not have any unaccounted production on account of theft of electricity ; all those contentions relate to the sufficiency of the reasons recorded by the Assessing Officer. It is well settled legal position that while examining the validity of proceedings under section 147 of the Act, the court is only required to see whether there was prima facie some material on the basis of which the assessment could be reopened. The sufficiency or the correctness of the material cannot be considered at this stage.
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