TMI Blog2023 (11) TMI 86X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... act, made no addition to the declared income of the petitioner. As noticed hereinabove, despite this position obtaining, a demand notice was served on the petitioner pursuant to the assessment order . It is perhaps because of this position that even though the CIT(A) had called for a response to the remand report, the AO failed to place before the CIT(A) his stance in the matter . Reopening order set aside - Decided in favour of assessee. - HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SHAKDHER AND HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GIRISH KATHPALIA For the Petitioner Through: Mr Ruchesh Sinha and Ms Nivedita, Advs. For the Respondents Through: Mr Kunal Sharma, Sr Standing Counsel with Ms Zehra Khan, Standing Counsel. RAJIV SHAKDHER, J. (ORAL): 1. Via the instant writ petition, a challenge is laid to the order dated 19.07.2022 passed under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [in short, Act ]. 1.1 Besides this, the petitioner also seeks to assail the consequential notice of even date, i.e., 19.07.2022, issued under Section 148 of the Act. 2. Both the impugned order and notice concern Assessment Year (AY) 2015-16. 3. The record shows that the principal allegation a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and DCB Bank. 8. Pursuant to the reply, the Assessing Officer (AO) passed a reassessment order dated 22.03.2022 under Section 147 read with Sections 144 and 144B of the Act. Interestingly, in the concluding part of the said reassessment order, there is nothing to suggest that any addition was made qua the petitioner. This is evident if one were to peruse paragraphs 5 and 6 of the said order. For the sake of convenience, the said paragraphs are extracted hereafter: 5. Accordingly, a show cause notice u/s 144 of Income Tax Act,1961 along with Draft Assessment Order issued to assessee on 12.03.2022 to provide one more opportunity for furnishing any explanation in this case, fixing the date of compliance on or before 18.03.2022. In compliance assessee submitted its reply on 15.03.2022 along with Bank Statements with narrations, copy of ITR-V, Computation of Income etc. 6. After perusing all the details documents furnished by assessee, assessment in this case for A.Y. 2015-16 is being completed u/s 144/147 of Income Tax Act, 1961 at return income. Notice of demand and challan are being issued as per the procedure. 9. However, the demand notice issued to the petit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reply to the show cause-cum-draft assessment order dated 12.03.2022: (i) That it did not maintain any bank account with HDFC Bank and DCB Bank. (ii) No material has been furnished to demonstrate that the petitioner was a beneficiary of the amount credited to the account maintained with HDFC Bank and DCB Bank. In this context, reference was made to the amount in issue, i.e., Rs. 50,94,24,738/-. (iii) The aforementioned amount also did not find mention in the petitioner s accounts maintained with the Sadar Bazar, Delhi Branch of the ICICI Bank and Sadar Bazar, Delhi Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank. (iv) That the notice was vague and had been issued without due application of mind. (v) The AO should have in this case conducted an inquiry under Clause (a) of Section 148A of the Act. (vi) That the reassessment order dated 22.03.2022 had been passed, against which an appeal had been preferred with the National Faceless Appeal Centre [CIT(A)]. 13. Despite the aforesaid stand of the petitioner, the AO passed the impugned order dated 19.07.2022 under Section 148A(d) of the Act. The rationale provided by the AO is rather curious and is found embedd ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ther the judgment of the Supreme Court mandates the AO to trigger proceedings under the new regime, even where the proceedings were commenced under the old regime based on a set of allegation and material with the AO which ultimately had culminated in an assessment order. 20. A careful perusal of the judgment rendered by the Supreme Court in Ashish Aggarwal shows that no such aspect was the subject matter of discussion in the said judgment. 21. There is no doubt that, in this particular case, the allegations which were levelled against the petitioner and form part of the notice dated 31.03.2021 are identical to those which are contained in the notice dated 31.05.2022. Had earlier notice not culminated into an assessment order, perhaps, what Mr Sharma said may have carried weight. 22. The AO, in the instant case, failed to note that even before the petitioner was served with a notice dated 31.05.2022 issued under Section 148A(b) of the Act, the assessment order dated 22.03.2022 had been passed under Section 147 read with Sections 143 and 144B of the Act. The AO also, for some strange reason, ignored the fact that allegations in the notice dated 31.03.2021 were identical to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ant. It has also been contended in the submission that bank account nos. mentioned in the show cause notice were 13 digit numbers whereas account nos. of the said two banks accounts were 14 digit nos. In this regard, the Ld. AO was requested to furnish comments on the said two issues along with supporting documents which can prove that the accounts were belonging to the appellant, however, the Ld. AO failed to furnish his comments by way of remand report till the date of passing of this order. Further, in the show cause notice u/s 144 dated 12.03.2022 proposed addition was shown at Rs. 50,94,24,738/-, however, in the Computation Sheet of the assessment order Gross Total Income has been calculated at Rs. 101,98,01,196/- In this regard also, the Ld. AO has been requested to furnish his comments by way of remand report, but inspite of several reminders the same has not been received. Hence it is presumed that the Ld. AO has nothing to say in the matter. 5.4 In the assessment order at Page- 3 Para- 6, the Ld. AO mentioned After perusing all the details documents furnished by assessee, assessment in this case for A. Y. 2015-16 is being completed u/s 144/147 of Income Tax Act, 1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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