9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (5) TMI 1170X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act of 1961'). According to the petitioner, along with income tax return, copies of the audited balance sheet, profit and loss account were also submitted. 3. Respondent No. 1 issued a notice under Section 148 of the Act of 1961 on 31.03.2022 seeking to reopen the assessment. In compliance of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India Vs. Ashish Agarwal, 2022 SCC OnLine 543 and instruction issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on 11.05.2022, notice under Section 148 was followed by notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act of 1961 on 02.06.2022. This notice shared with the petitioner-assessee certain information alleging that income chargeable to tax to the extent of Rs. 20,70,639/- has escaped assessment within the meaning of the provisions of Section 147 of the Act of 1961 for the Assessment Year 2016-17. 4. The petitioner, in response, submitted a reply-cum-objection on 13.06.2022. The respondent-authority, however, was not satisfied with the reply, particularly the objection with regard to maintainability of proceedings drawn under Section 148A of the Act of 1961 and proceeded to pass impugned order on 2 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ment is sought to be reopened on the basis of incriminating material and information collected from the documents, records, papers which were seized during search in the premises of another assessee. Learned counsel would further submit that true it is that a search was carried in the premises of another assess, as the notice and final order clearly speak out, the basis for reopening is not the material and information collected during the course of search, but it is pre and post search investigation carried out by the respondent-authority. Therefore, present are not the cases where Section 153C of the Act of 1961 would be attracted, but present are the cases where the provisions of Section 148A of the Act of 1961 would be applicable. Though, notice under Section 148 of the Act of 1961 was signed on 31.03.20212, but it could not be issued and was thereafter issued only on 01.04.2021. Therefore, in view of the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India Vs. Ashish Agarwal (supra), notice under Section 148 of the Act of 1961 has been treated as notice under Section 148A of the Act of 1961 and thus, detailed and speaking orders have been passed by the assessing ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er that provision on 02.06.2022. In that notice, it was stated that the office has information pertaining to the assessee which suggests that income chargeable to tax for the Assessment Year 2016-17 has escaped assessment within the meaning of the provisions of Section 147 of the Act of 1961. The details of the relevant information and material relied upon for initiating reassessment proceedings were enclosed along with the notice as Annexure-A. A perusal of Annexure-A appended to the notice disclosed the incriminating information and material as below: "2. As per information received from the ACIT(Central)- 2(1), Ahemdabad vide his letter dated 08.02.2019, a search action u/s 132 of the I. T. Act, 1961, was carried out on 21.10.2016 on DRA Group of Ahmedabad. Shri Dinesh Chandra R. Agrawal of DRA Group runs the business in the name of "Dinesh Chandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt. Ltd." which is a company in Ahmedabad, providing Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) services in different sectors across Gujarat. During pre and post search inquiries, it was gathered that the DRA group having Flagship Company Dinesh Chandra R Agrawal Infracon Pvt. Ltd. has generated unaccounted money ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ther assessee and nothing more, therefore, no proceedings for reassessment could be drawn under Section 148A of the Act of 1961. 13. In the impugned order dated 27.07.2022 passed in exercise of powers under Section 148A(d) of the Act of 1961, it has been assumed that the incriminating material and information collected during search followed by collection of details which were intrinsically related to such material and information would confer jurisdiction under Section 148 of the Act of 1961. This is clear from the following findings which were recorded while dealing with the objection raised by the petitioner-assessee: "5.3 It is correct that one of the ground of the petition was challenging the notice u/s 148 that the case of the assessee should be governed as per section 153C. In this regard it is submitted that at present the case of the assessee does not attain finality on this ground. The next date of hearing in this case is 10/08/2022. Therefore, the show cause notice issued on 02/06/2022 was as per law. Further, in this case, no documents related to assessee was found in search action. From pre and post search investigation, it was established that assessee is one benef ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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