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2019 (11) TMI 28 - AT - Income TaxValidity of reopening of assessment - assumption of jurisdiction u/s 147 - non fulfillment of mandatory jurisdictional conditions specified under the Act - As per assessee reopening was based on the borrowed satisfaction of CIT Central II, New Delhi and was without an independent application of mind - addition on accommodation entry - HELD THAT:- An investigation wing of the Income Tax department is very important organ and arm collecting lot of significant information/s under the Act. However, the requirement of recording the reasons u/s 148 of the Act is vested in the AO only and nobody else. In the present case, the AO should have given relevant details in the reasons recorded vis a vis the crucial aspects of information shared by the CIT Central/ investigation wing (if any) which in his own independent opinion led him to formulate the belief for assuming jurisdiction for re-assessment and sans which we cannot approve the present reasons as valid and correct. Notably, nowhere in the reasons AO has shed any light on as to whether any specific statement of Shri Aseem Gupta or any other person was there to warrant assumption of jurisdiction in assessee’s case except some general allegations. Moreover, not a single document is mentioned and referred to in the reasons recorded wherefrom the stated allegation, as levelled in the reasons, can be supported. These are fatal errors which strike at the very foundation of the validity of the re-assessment proceedings. CIT (A), in his adjudication on the validity of the reasons recorded, has simply stated that since the AO has taken care of the procedure to be followed as dictated in the case of GKN Driveshaft [2002 (11) TMI 7 - SUPREME COURT] nothing more was required to be seen and looked into. This observation, to our mind, is a very casual way of dealing with the detailed arguments of assessee made before him. Taking a holistic view on the facts of this case, we are of the considered view that reopening in the present case cannot be approved on the basis of the reasons recorded and the same is held to be without authority of law - AO has simply relied on the information from the CIT(Central)/DIT(Inv) to form a conclusion about escapement of income, which itself is flawed and cannot pass the test of 'reason to believe' - Decided in favour of assessee
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