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TMI Blog2025 (5) TMI 754X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... etitioner filed its return of income for the assessment year [AY] 2016-17 on 15.10.2016, declaring a NIL income, after claiming exemption under Section 13A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 3. The initial notice under Section 148 of the Act for AY 2016-17 was issued on 28.06.2021. The said notice was unsustainable as it was issued in accordance with the statutory regime as existed prior to 31.03.2021. This court in the case of Mon Mohan Kohli v. Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax & Anr.: Neutral Citation No.: 2021:DHC:4181-DB had set aside such notices that were issued after 31.03.2021 without following the procedure as prescribed under Section 148A of the Act. Some of the other High Courts also took a similar view and struck down notices that were issued under Section 148 of the Act after 31.03.2021 but under the unamended provisions relating to the re-assessment of income that had escaped assessment. 4. The Revenue appealed the decisions rendered by various High Courts to the Supreme Court of India. In Union of India v. Ashish Agarwal: 2022 SCC OnLine SC 543 - which was one of such appeals arising from the decision of the Allahabad High Court - the Supreme Court delivered its deci ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... )] on an assumption that the CIT(E) was a specified authority under the provisions of Section 151 of the Act. 8. The AO issued a notice dated 29.07.2022 under Section 148 of the Act accompanied with the order dated 29.07.2022 passed under Section 148A (d) of the Act. It is the petitioner's case that the said notice is barred by limitation. 9. It is material to note that the original notice under Section 148 of the Act [deemed to be a show cause notice under Section 148A (b) of the Act in terms of the decision in the case of Union of India & Ors. v. Ashish Agarwal (supra)] was issued on 28.06.2021, that is, two days prior to the expiry of the limitation period as extended by virtue of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 [TOLA]. Thus, the AO had two days to issue the notice under Section 148 of the Act after receiving the reply dated 08.06.2022 filed by the petitioner. Since the said period was less than seven days, the AO had, by virtue of the fourth proviso to Section 149 (1) of the Act, seven days to pass an order under Section 148A (d) of the Act (which was necessarily required to accompany a notice under Section 148 of the Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nsider it apposite to refer to the following extract from the decision of this court in Abhinav Jindal HUF v. Income Tax Officer Ward 54 (1) Delhi & Ors. (supra). The same is set out below: "17. As was noticed in the introductory parts of this decision, the respondents had, contrary to the above, argued that once a notice for reassessment comes to be issued after the expiry of four years by virtue of the extended period of time made available by TOLA, all the impugned notices would fall within the ken of sub-section (2) of the pre-amendment Section 151 and consequently the sanction and approval accorded by the JCIT would be in accordance with law. *** *** *** 38. It would therefore be wholly incorrect to read TOLA as intending to amend the distribution of power or the categorisation envisaged and prescribed by Section 151. The additional time that the said statute provided to an authority cannot possibly be construed as altering or modifying the hierarchy or the structure set up by Section 151 of the Act. The issue of approval would still be liable to be answered based on whether the reassessment was commenced after or within a period of four years from the end of the releva ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e instant matters. 11. It may also be noted that in Ganesh Dass Khanna [Ganesh Dass Khanna v. ITO, (2024) 460 ITR 546 (Delhi); 2023 SCC OnLine Del 7286; 2023 : DHC : 8187-DB.], we had recorded the stand of the Revenue that the issue concerning limitation and the specified authority are "intertwined". For convenience, the relevant part of the judgment is extracted hereafter (page 567 of 460 ITR): "24. On behalf of the Revenue, the following broad submissions were made:... (viii) Both under the unamended 1961 Act and amended 1961 Act, the issue concerning limitation is inextricably intertwined with two aspects: (a) First, the rank of the authority granting approval/sanction for triggering reassessment proceedings. (b) Second, the quantum of income which has escaped assessment." (Emphasis is ours) 12. Clearly, the Revenue advanced the argument of interlinkage between limitation and the ascertainment of the specified authority due to the plain language of the amended section 151 of the Act. Section 151, when read alongside the first proviso to section 148, brings the aspect of inextricable linkage to the fore. 12.1. Clauses (i) and (ii) of section 151 of the ame ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... te Limited v. ACIT, Circle 3 (2) (1) & Ors., W.P. No. 1050/2020, decided on 04.04.2022, the Bombay High Court had made observations to the effect that even if the time to issue notice may have been extended by TOLA, the same would not amend the provisions of Section 151 of the Act. The relevant extract of the said decision is set out below: "5. Respondents have relied upon a letter dated 18th March 2021 issued by one Income Tax Officer, who has given an opinion to the Additional Commissioner of Income Tax that in view of the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 (Relaxation Act), limitation, inter alia, under provisions of Section 151 (1) and Section 151 (2), which were originally expiring on 31st March 2020 stand extended to 31st March 2021. According to the Income Tax Officer, in view of the above, Assessment Year 2015-2016 which falls under the category within four years as on 31st March 2020, the statutory approval for issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act for the Assessment Year 2015-2016 may be given by the Range Head as per the said provisions. Mr. Sharma clarifies that the Income Tax Officer is only conveying the view of the Princi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1 (ii) and not section 151(i) of the Act and the Principal Commissioner of Income-tax-8 cannot be the specified authority as per section 151 of the Act. Further, even in the affidavit-in-reply, the Department has accepted that the approval obtained is of the "Principal Commissioner of Income-tax-8" and, hence, such an approval would be bad in law. 25. The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, enacted on September 29, 2020 and came into force on March 31, 2020 ([2020] 428 ITR (St.) 29 ). It, inter alia, provided for a relaxation of certain provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Where any time limit for completion or compliance of an action such as completion of any proceedings or passing of any order or issuance of any notice fell between the period March 20, 2020 to December 31, 2020, the time limit for completion of such action stood extended to March 31, 2021. Thus, the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act only seeks to extend the period of limitation and does not affect the scope of section 151. 26. The Assessing Officer cannot rely on the provisions of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pre-amended section 151 by reference and make it applicable. 14. The next question to be examined is the impact of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. Undoubtedly, the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 extended the time limits under specified enactments, including the Income-tax Act. As per clause (a)(ii) of sub-section(1) of section 3 thereof, time limits for grant of sanction or approval were also extended. Since the petitioner does not challenge the sanction with respect to the time limit, clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3 is immaterial. Indeed, the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020, which extends the time limits for completion of specified tasks up to March 31, 2021, itself becomes irrelevant because of the nature of the challenge in these writ petitions. 15. In Siemens Financial Services [Siemens Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. v. Dy. CIT, (2023) 457 ITR 647 (Bom); 2023 SCC OnLine Bom 2822; (2023) 154 taxmann.com 159 (Bom).], the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court concluded, in substantially similar facts and ci ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tifications issued by the Central Government in terms of the provisions of the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020, the said time limits stood extended is clearly untenable as those notifications were issued to deal with the situation arising from the amendment to the Income-tax Act by the Finance Act, 2021 with effect from April 1, 2021 whereas in these cases the notices were issued prior to April 1, 2021. 5. This court had an occasion in similar circumstances to quash an identical notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act by its order dated November 20, 2019 in Writ Petition (C) No. 7618 of 2009 and which order stood confirmed by this court by the dismissal of the Department's review petition, i. e., RVWPET No. 188 of 2020 by the order dated December 3, 2021 which reads as under : "1. Although the point made by the Revenue in this review petition is that this court in its order dated November 20, 2019 erred in drawing a distinction between an Additional Commissioner and Commissioner in terms of their authority, the point involved was that for the purpose of section 151 (1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 since the reopenin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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