Anuneet Buildwell Pvt. Ltd. vs Income Tax Officer

“2.

The Ld. Counsel for the assessee, at the outset, submits that in the case of the assessee a notice u/s 148 was issued o n 30.07.2022 under ne w law which is barred by limitation sinc e the provisions of taxation and other laws (re laxation and amendment of cer tain provisions) (TOLA) are not applicable for the AY 2015-16 as he ld by the Ho n’ble Jurisdictional High Co urt in the case o f Make My Trip (India) Pvt. L td. in WP( c) 2558/2023 dated 24.03.2025.

3.

Ld. Co unsel fur ther submits that recently the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the cases of Deepak Steels & Power Ltd. Vs. CBDT and Others in Civil Appeal No.5177/2025 dated 02.04.2025 no ted that the Reve nue made a concession before the Hon’ble Supreme Court while disposing off the appe al in the case of Unio n of India & Others Vs. Rajiv Bansal (2024) (SCC) Online SC 2693, that for the AY 2015-16 notices issued on o r after 01.04.2021 will have to be dropped as they would not fall for comple tio n during the period prescribe d under the TOLA. Ld. Counsel also submitted that similar view has been taken by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of ACIT Vs. Nehal Rashid Shah in SLP (Civil) Diary No . (S) 57209/2024 dated 4.4.2025. There fore , it is submitted that in the light of these decisio ns the reassessm ent framed fo r the AY 2015-16 based on the notice issue d u/s 148 o f the Act dated 30.07.2022, is time barre d and bad in law.

4.

Ld. DR suppo rte d the o rders of the Assessing Office r.

5.

Heard r ival co ntentio ns, perused the orde rs o f the authorities be low. Admittedly in this case notice u/s 148 was issued on 30.07.2022 under ne w law base d on which the reassessment for the AY 2015- 16 was framed by the AO on 31.5.2023. The re assessment was challe nged before the Ld. C IT(Appeals) and the Ld. CIT(Appe als) dismisse d the appe al for non- prosecutio n by the assessee.

6.

In the case of Make My Trip (India) Pvt. Ltd. Vs. DCIT (supra) the Jurisdictional High Court conside red whether reassessment completed for the AY 2015-16 based on a notice issue d u/s 148 and the viz a viz the applicability of the pro visions o f T OLA and based o n the concession of the Revenue that fo r the AY 2015-16 all the notices issued o n or after 1.4.2021 will have to be dropped as they will not fall fo r completio n during the period prescribed under the T OLA, held that the no tice issued under 148 was beyond the period o f limitation and conseque ntly the same is liable to be set aside .

7.

Further the Hon’ble Supreme Co urt in the case of Deepak Stee l & Power Ltd. Vs. CBDT & Others (supra) quashed the no tices issued u/s 148 observing as unde r: -

“2.

These appe als arise from 'the order passe d by the High Court o f O rissa at Cuttack in Writ Pe tition (C) No s. 2446 of 2823, 2543 of 2023 date d 1.2.2023 and 2544 of 2023 dated 10.02.2023 respectively by which the High Court disposed of the o riginal wr it pe titions in the following terms:-

"1.

The memo of appear ance filed by Mr. S. S. Mohapatra, le arned Senior Standing Counse l for Revenue Departm ent on be half of Opposite Parties is taken on reco rd. s t

2.

In vie w of the order passe d by this Court on 1 December , 2022 in a batch of writ petitions of which W.P. (C) Mo.9191 of 2022 (Kailash Kedia v. Income Tax Office r) was a lead matter and the subse quent order dated 10th January, 2023 passed in W.P.(C) Mo.36314 of 2022 (Shiv Mettalicks Pvt. Ltd., Ro urke la v. Principal Commissioner of Incom e Tax, Sambalpur ), the Co urt declines to entertain the present writ petitio n, but le ave s it o pen to the Pe titione r to raise all grounds available to the Pe titio ner in accor dance with law including the grounds urged in the present petitio n at the appropriate stage as explained by the Court in those orde rs.

3.

The wr it pe tition is disposed of in the above te rms."

3.

We heard Mr. Saswat Kumar Acharya, the le arne d counsel appearing for the appel lants (assessee) and Mr. Chandr ashekhar, the le arned co unsel appearing fo r the revenue.

4.

The learned co unsel appearing for the revenue with his usual fairness invite d the attention of this Co urt to a three judge be nch decision o f this Court in Union o f India and O rs. v. Rajeev Bansal, re ported in 2024 SCC OnLine SC 2693, more particularly, paragraph 19( f) which reads thus:-

"19.

(f) T he R evenue co ncedes that for the assessment year 2015- 2016, all notices issued on or afte r April 1, 2021 will have to be dro pped as the y will not fall fo r comple tio n during the per iod prescribed unde r the Taxation and othe r Laws (Relaxation and Amendment o f Certain Provisio ns) Act, 2020."

5.

As the revenue made a concessio n in the aforesaid decision that is for the assessme nt year 2015-2016, all notices issued o n or after 1st April, 2021 will have to be dro ppe d as they would not fall fo r completion during the pe rio d prescribe d unde r the taxation and other laws (Re laxation and Amendment of certain Provisions Act, 2020). Nothing furthe r is required to be adj udicated in this m atte r as the no tice s so far as the pre sent l itigatio n is concerne d is date d 25.6.2021.

6.

In view of the afore said, in such circumstances referred to abo ve the o riginal writ petition nos.2446 of 2023, 2543 of 2023 and 2544 of 2023 respectively file d before the High Cour t of Orissa at cuttack stands allo wed.

7.

The impugned notice the rein stands quashed and set aside .”

8.

Above decisions square ly applies to the fact situation of the assessee and therefore respectfully following the abo ve decis ions, we hold that the notices issued u/s 148 o n or after 1.4.2021 for reopening the assessment fo r t he AY 2015-16 are bar red by limitation and consequently the re assessment made based on such notices are bad in law and vo id ab initio . Thus, the impugne d re assessment orde r having been made pursuant to no tice issue d u/s 148 dated 30.07.2022 the reassessment o rder is hereby held to be bad in law and the same is quashed. Ground Nos. B, C & D of grounds of appe al of the assessee are allo wed.”