Pushpa Devi v. Income Tax Officer & ORS.
$~36 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 7572/2023 PUSHPA DEVI .....Petitioner Through:
Mr. Rohit Jain and Mr. Samarth Chaudhari, Advs.
versus INCOME TAX OFFICER & ORS.
.....Respondents Through:
Mr. Vipul Agrawal, SSC with Mr. Gaoraang Ranjan, Advs.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE YASHWANT VARMA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR
O R D E R
% 20.02.2025 1.
The instant writ petition had been preferred assailing the reassessment action initiated by the respondent pertaining to Assessment Year ['AY'] 2015-16. We take note of the principal challenge which now remains and pertains to the issue of surviving period.
2.
The petitioner, in order to buttress its claim of the proceedings being time barred, has placed for our consideration the following chart:
"SUMMARY CHART A.
Key Facts:
Sl. No.
PARTICULARS DATE Relevant Pg./Ann No.
1.
Notice issued Section 148 (old regime) 01.06.2021 77/'A'
19.05.2022 78/'A'
2.
Letter communicating information pursuant to SC decision in Ashish Agarwal The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
02.06.2022 80/'B'
3.
Time granted to file reply to deemed notice u/s 148A(b) 4.
Order u/s 148A(d) 08.07.2022 82/'C'
5.
Notice issued u/s 148 08.07.2022 86/'D'
B. COMPUTATION OF LIMITATION AS PER DECISION OF UOI VS. RAJEEV BANSAL SC Paras Assessment Year 2014-2015 Period of limitation u/s 149 [3 years or 6 years] 6 years Original Period of limitation u/s 31.03.2021 Extended period of limitation as per IT Act read with TOLA 30.06.2021 Paras 65-69 Date of original notice u/s 148deemed SCN u/s 148A(b) 01.06.2021 Days available to the AO to issue notice u/s 148 (i.e. 01.06.2021) to 30.06.2021)/Fourth proviso not applicable 29 days (>7 days) Period to be excluded as per 3rd proviso to section 149 01.06.2021 to 02.06.2021 Paras 105-107 Remaining period (available from 02.06.2022) 29 days Paras 109-113 Last date for issuing notice u/s 148 [i.e., 02.06.2022 + 29 days] 01.07.2022 Actual date of issuance of notice u/s 148 08.07.2022 3.
The said question would have to be necessarily examined by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer bearing in mind the judgment of the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal [2024 SCC OnLine SC 2693] as well as of this Court in Ram Balram Buildhome Pvt. Ltd. v. Income Tax Officer & Anr. [2025 SCC OnLine Del 481].
4.
Dealing with identical issues, we had disposed of a batch of writ petitions by our judgment rendered in Kanwaljeet Kaur vs. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.
Commissioner of Income Tax [2025 SCC OnLine Del 605] in the following terms:
"27. We accordingly dispose of this batch of writ petitions by directing the concerned AOs to evaluate the individual SCNs' under Section 148 of the Act bearing in mind our judgments in T.K.S. Builders, Abhinav Jindal and Naveen Kumar Gupta. These decisions have conclusively settled issues pertaining to the accordal of sanction under Section 151 as well as the authority of the jurisdictional AO to commence and undertake reassessment. Those decisions also lay at rest the challenge which the writ petitioners had raised that an AO is bound to adhere to the procedure prescribed by Section 153C in cases emanating from a search.
28. A similar exercise would have to be undertaken to examine the issue of surviving period in respect of each individual noticee under Section 148 and which would necessarily be guided by the judgments of Rajeev Bansal and Ram Balram.
29. The concerned AOs shall consequently pass a reasoned and speaking order dealing with the impact of the judgments referred to above upon the impugned reassessment notices and in the manner indicated in paras 27 and 28 of this order. That decision shall thus render a finding on whether the impugned reassessment notices would survive or be liable to be recalled. It shall be open to the writ petitioners to assail any adverse orders that may come to be passed pursuant to the above in accordance with law." 5.
Consequently, and in light of the above, we dispose of the writ petition on terms identical to those provided in paragraphs 27 to 29 of Kanwaljeet Kaur.
YASHWANT VARMA, J.
HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR, J.
FEBRUARY 20, 2025/akc The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.