The contention of the counsel for the petitioner that the reopening of the assessments was prompted by the opinion which the respondent formed while framing the assessment for assessment year 2007-08 that the licence fee payment was not an allowable deduction, cannot be accepted

Whether the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal was right in law in coming to the conclusion that when on the ground on which the reopening of assessment is based, no additions are made by the Assessing Officer in the order of assessment, he cannot make additions on some other grounds which did not form part of the reasons recorded by him.

The CBDT, through its circular, could have brought certain aspects to the notice of the Assessing Officer, insofar as assessment was concerned. It had to be the opinion of the Assessing Officer alone which would prevail. In that view of the matter, the circular of CBDT may be a trigger, on the basis of which, the Assessing Officer may himself be satisfied that income chargeable to tax in a given case had escaped assessment.

One has to keep in mind the fact that while reopening of an assessment cannot be asked for by the assessee on the ground that it had not furnished Form No. 10 during the original assessment proceedings, this does not mean that when the revenue reopens the assessment by invoking section 147, the assessee would be remediless and would be barred from furnishing Form No. 10 during those assessment proceedings. Therefore, Form No. 10 could be furnished by the assessee-trust during the reassessment proceedings.

The assessment record reveals that the MLA had been placed on the record of the Assessing Officer in the very first instance when the assessment was completed under section 143(3). Thereafter the reassessment proceedings were initiated for those proceedings too and what drove the revenue to issue notice and reopen the proceedings was the master [...]

In the present case, the impugned reasons behind the notice dated 28.03.2012, which we have extracted above, does not even carry a whisper that there has been a failure on the part of the assessee to fully and truly disclose all material facts necessary for the assessment. Even the order rejecting the objections does not indicate as to what material fact has not been disclosed by the assessee.

In the present case, we find that the whole issue is with regard to the method of production and the manner in which electricity is generated. The entire process of generation of electricity, both by the gas turbine unit and the steam turbine unit, has been explained by the petitioner in great detail in the [...]

As regards the challenge to the reopening of proceedings is concerned, the Court is satisfied that the notice under Section 147 reflected due application of mind to objective material furnished to the AO, i.e. by way of Investigation Report which could have given rise to a bonafide belief, legitimately falling within Section 147.

This Court in the case of The Commissioner of Income Tax V/s. Mr. Salman Khan [Income Tax Appeal No.2362 of 2009] decided on 1st December, 2009 has considered similar question and has held that in the absence of notice under section 143(2) (prior to the insertion of section 292BB), the reassessment order cannot be sustained.

Whether issue of notice u/s 148 for reopening of assessment u/s 147 on the reason that assessee company is involved in accommodation entry in valid?