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2021 (3) TMI 1172 - HC - Income TaxAssessment u/s 153A - Time limit for authorizations for search under Section 132 or for requisition under Section 132A - whether the provisions of Section 132(9A) are mandatory or directory? - HELD THAT:- The provisions of Section 153B set out the limitation by when an order of assessment under Section 15A is to be passed as being twenty-one months from the end of the month when the last of the authorizations for search under Section 132 or for requisition under Section 132A was executed. The period set out under Section 132(9A) is a measure to enable the respective parties to adhere to the process in an orderly fashion facilitating the completion of the assessment in time. It is relevant to note that there is no time stipulated for the issuance of notice under Section 153A and instances are rife when notices are issued long after the seized material is handed over to the AO. The integrity of the assessment process would thus be dependent upon the principles of natural justice being observed and proper sequence of procedure being followed. Time limits set out under Section 132 (9A) are not only for the purposes of Section 132 (8) & (9) but also to facilitate reasonable time to the AO to complete the assessment where the identity of the IO and AO is different. The undisputed position in this case is that the IO and AO are not one and the same. The last of the authorisations in this case is on 04.09.2018 and the seized materials ought to have been handed over, in terms of Section 132(9A) on or before 03.11.2018. Admittedly, the handing over has been only on 20.08.2019, more than nine months beyond the stipulated date. Though this constitutes a gross procedural irregularity, it does not, in my considered view, vitiate the notices issued, as assuming a situation where the handover had been within time, the notices might still have been issued only on 01.11.2019. Thus, the jurisdiction assumed cannot be faulted on this score.
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