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2018 (11) TMI 479 - AT - Income TaxInitiation of re-assessment proceedings u/s. 147 - action after the expiry of 4 years from the end of the relevant assessment year - reason to believe - non independent application of ind by AO - letter has been received from the Ld. CIT-15, Kolkata - Held that:- Receipt of information from the Ld. CIT-15, Kolkata, no independent enquiry was also carried out by the AO himself before reaching his independent satisfaction that alleged escapement had actually occurred or that the assessee in fact was beneficiary of any sum received from Shri Chowdhury in the form of sale proceeds of sarees. In such a scenario, when the AO was in receipt of the information from the Ld. CIT-15, Kolkata he ought to have made enquiries to unravel the truth. It has to be remembered that information is not synonymous to truth. Just because a letter has been received from the Ld. CIT-15, Kolkata the AO cannot reopen the completed assessment u/s. 143(3) of the Act. 'Reason to suspect' based on an information can trigger an enquiry to find out whether there is any substance or material to substantiate that there is merit in the information adduced by the Ld. CIT-15, Kolkata and thereafter the AO has to take an independent decision to re-open or not. The reopening of assessment in the present case was done without satisfying the conditions precedent in Section 147 and for that reason the reopening is held to be corum non judice. Therefore, all proceeding subsequently made is 'null' in the eyes of law and so, we quash the notice of reopening u/s. 148 and subsequent orders of the AO and Ld. CIT(A) is also held to be null & void in the eyes of law. Accordingly the assessee succeeds on the legal issue challenged before us. - Decided in favour of assessee
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