9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (9) TMI 744X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the income of the petitioner is sought to be reassessed on the ground that petitioner has not substantiated the source of cash and credit deposit of Rs. 2,48,83,439/- during the Assessment Year ["AY"] 2014-15. 2. The principal challenge is to the initiation of reassessment in terms of a notice issued under Section 148 of the Act dated 20.07.2022 for the AY 2014-15. For the purpose of disposal of the present writ petition, we deem it apposite to take note of the following essential facts:- 3. Petitioner is the proprietor of M/s. JMK Enterprises, which is engaged in dealing in electronic goods and components. Petitioner filed its return of income for the AY 2014-15 on 29.11.2014, declaring a total income of Rs. 23,05,560/-. 4. Respondent N ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Obviously, in this case, the right of the respondent to reopen the concluded assessment is based on a perceived reading of the decision of the Supreme Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra), wherein, the Supreme Court proceeded to frame the following operative directions: "28. In view of the above and for the reasons stated above, the present appeals are allowed in part. The impugned common judgments and orders [Ashok Kumar Agarwal v. Union of India, 2021 SCC OnLine All 799] passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in WT No. 524 of 2021 and other allied tax appeals/petitions, is/are hereby modified and substituted as under: 28.1. The impugned Section 148 notices issued to the respective assessees which were issued under unamended Se ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l rights and contentions which may be available to the assessees concerned and Revenue under the Finance Act, 2021 and in law shall continue to be available. The assessing officers shall thereafter pass orders in terms of Section 148-A (d) in respect of each of the assessees concerned; Thereafter after following the procedure as required under Section 148-A may issue notice under Section 148 (as substituted)." 8. While relying upon to the judgment of Ashish Agarwal (supra), learned counsel for the respondent has submitted that the assessment proceedings completed on 26.03.2022 in pursuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act dated 31.03.2021 had become void ab initio because the notice under Section 148 in the case of the assessee for t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e penultimate directions which came to be framed, the procedure laid out in Ashish Agarwal clearly stood confined to matters where although notices may have been issued, proceedings were yet to have attained finality. This clearly flows from the impugned notices being ordained to be treated as show cause notices under Section 148A (b) and the concomitant liberty being accorded to AOs' to proceed further in accordance with Section 148A (d). As we read that decision, we find ourselves unable to construe those directions as either warranting or mandating a reopening of proceedings which had come to be rendered a quietus in the meanwhile. The judgment was primarily concerned with the validity of various notices which had been promulgated and pr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essment proceedings on jurisdictional grounds by preferring objections which the AO was statutorily obliged to take into consideration before issuing notices under Section 148 of the Act. The Revenue on the other hand, and notwithstanding its folly of having erroneously proceeded under the erstwhile regime, was enabled to continue proceedings in accordance with the amended procedure as introduced by virtue of Finance Act, 2021 and thus avoid the specter of a fait accompli which it faced on account of some of the High Court decisions. This is apparent from the Supreme Court observing that the judgments rendered by some of the High Courts' had left the Revenue remediless and resulting in "no reassessment proceedings at all, even if the same a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Our view of the judgement being confined to proceedings at the stage of notice is further fortified from the Supreme Court providing in para 8 of the report that "The respective impugned Section 148 notices issued to the respective assessees shall be deemed to have been issued under section 148A of the Income Tax Act as substituted by Finance Act, 2021 and treated to be show cause notices in terms of Section 148A (b)." As would be manifest from the aforesaid extract, the emphasis clearly was on the notices which formed the subject matter of challenge before various High Courts' and the aim of the Supreme Court being to salvage the process of reassessment. This is further evident from the Supreme Court observing that the AO would thereafter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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