TMI Blog2006 (4) TMI 458X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... complete assessment under section 143(3) has not expired at the time of issue of notice under section 148. The additional ground of appeal raised by the assessee being a legal ground of appeal is admitted for adjudication. The said additional ground of appeal has raised by the assessee is against the validity of reassessment made by the Assessing Officer and is dealt in the first instance before going into the merits of the case. The assessment year under consideration is 2000-01. The due date for filing the return of income for the year under consideration was October 31, 2000. The return of income was filed by the assessee on October 31, 2000. The Assessing Officer issued notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act on October 25, 2001. The time-limit for issuing notice of hearing under the provisions of section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act expired on October 30, 2001. As per the provisions of section 153 of the Income-tax Act, the time-limit to complete the assessment under section 143(3) of the Income-tax Act expires in the instant case on March 31, 2003, i.e., a period of two years from the end of the relevant assessment year. A notice under section 148 of the Inc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esentative for the assessee stated that in the facts of the present case once the Assessing Officer has issued a notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act prior to completing the assessment under section 143(3) of the Income-tax Act, time period for which had not expired on the date when the notice under section 148 was issued, there is no merit in making reassessment proceedings against the assessee. The learned Authorised Representative drew our attention to the order of the Assessing Officer wherein it was pointed out that the Assessing Officer has accepted the fact of issue of notice of hearing under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act and once the proceedings so initiated are pending, the Assessing Officer cannot be allowed to take an umbrella under section 148 of the Income-tax Act. Thus, the fact that the notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act is mysteriously missing from the file of the Assessing Officer is to be taken into cognizance or not while deciding the issue in hand. The learned Authorised Representative brought to our attention that the provisions of section 147 have been amended by way of insertion of Explanation 2, wherein under clause (b) i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... section 139 of the Income-tax Act, it is the duty of every person being a company or other than a company, in case his total income exceeds the maximum amount not chargeable to income-tax, to furnish a return of income for the previous year in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner. Once the return of income has been furnished under section 139 of the Income-tax Act by the assessee, the procedure of assessment is provided under section 143 of the Income-tax Act. The return of income furnished by the assessee under section 139 of the Income-tax Act is to be processed under section 143(1) of the Income-tax Act. The Assessing Officer if it considers necessary to ensure that the assessee has not understated the income or has not computed excessive loss or has not under-paid the taxes, serve on the assessee a notice of hearing requiring him to produce any evidence that the assessee may rely on in support of the return of income. The said authority has been entrusted on the Assessing Officer under the provisions of section 143(2) of the Incometax Act. The said authority to serve notice of hearing is subject to the proviso to section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Income-tax Act which was initiated by way of issue of notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, whether the Assessing Officer had the power to complete the assessment under section 143(3) read with section 147 of the Income-tax Act. The scheme of the Income-tax Act provides steps for filing the return of income, assessment and reassessment in connection with the income earned by the assessee during the previous year. In the facts of the present case, the return of income was duly filed by the assessee on October 31, 2000, which was within the time-limit of the filing of return. Thereafter, the case was picked up for scrutiny by way of issuing and serving notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act within the time-limit provided in the proviso to section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act. The said notice issued by the assessee is claimed by the Assessing Officer to be missing from the file of the assessee. The factum of issue of notice is accepted by the Assessing Officer once he states that the notice is found mysteriously missing from the file . The said statement of the Assessing Officer presupposes the factum of issue of notice of hearing under section 143(2) of the I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Income-tax Act was issued, it was mandatory on the Assessing Officer to complete the assessment under section 143(3) of the Income-tax Act. There is no merit in the argument of the learned Departmental Representative that once the original notice of hearing is missing from the assessment records, the Assessing Officer had no jurisdiction but to take action under Explanation 2(b) of section 147 of the Income-tax Act in the facts of the present case. No doubt, under Explanation 2(b) to section 147, the Assessing Officer has been given wide powers of assessment/reassessment where income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment. But the clause very clearly provides that it shall apply in all cases, where the return of income has been furnished by the assessee and no assessment has been made. The reference to no assessment made is limited to cover cases where no assessment is otherwise possible. The Agra Tribunal in the case of Asst. CIT v. Subhash Chandra Goyal [2005] 4 SOT 405 have elaborated on the aforesaid specific provisions of section 147 and held as under : The next ground of appeal taken by the Revenue was that the Commissioner (Appeals) had erred in holding that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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