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2022 (1) TMI 183 - HC - Income TaxReopening of assessment u/s 147 - Non dealing with objections - HELD THAT:- Admittedly, the objections were not separately dealt with by the AO as mandatorily required by the judgment of Supreme Court in GKN Driveshafts (India) Ltd. [2002 (11) TMI 7 - SUPREME COURT] On that short ground, the reopening of the assessment is rendered bad in law and the impugned reassessment order deserves to be set aside. As seen that the reasons for reopening of the assessment merely repeats the language of the report of the DDIT (Inv.) without any independent application of mind by the AO. In Sabh Infrastructure Ltd. [2017 (9) TMI 1589 - DELHI HIGH COURT] in similar circumstances set aside the re-assessment order. In paragraph-15 of the said decision, it has been observed that assessment proceedings, especially those under Section 143 (3) of the Act “have to be accorded sanctity and any reopening of the same has to be on a strong and sound legal basis.” It was further emphasized that “there have to be reasons to believe and not merely reasons to suspect that income has escaped assessment.” In the present case, apart from the fact that the reopening of the assessment being bad in law for non-supplying of the vital documents on the basis of which the reasons to believe were formed, the Court finds that the reasons for reopening merely reproduces the language of the report of the DDIT (Inv.) without the AO independently applying his mind to the material on record. For all of the aforementioned reasons, the Court finds the impugned re-assessment order to be unsustainable in law and the same as well as the consequential demand notices are hereby set aside.
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