Panchsheel Mercantile Co-Op Bank Limited Vs ACIT (Gujarat High Court)
The Gujarat High Court examined a writ petition filed by Panchsheel Mercantile Co-Op Bank Limited challenging the legality of an order passed under Section 148A(d) and a notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, dated 31 March 2023, for the Assessment Year 2019-20. The petitioner, a Mercantile Co-operative Society, had filed its return of income under Section 139(1) on 22 October 2019 for a total income of ₹1,35,85,340, using its new PAN (AADAT9507D). Prior to filing, the petitioner had surrendered its earlier PAN (AAACT8950B) on 14 June 2019 after the Income Tax Department had inadvertently allotted it under the status of ‘Company’ instead of ‘Association of Person.’ A new PAN was allocated, and the petitioner had since filed returns under the new PAN for subsequent assessment years, including 2014-15 to 2017-18, with scrutiny assessments undertaken and orders passed under Section 143(3) accordingly.
The petitioner contended that it received a notice under Section 142(1) dated 19 December 2017 for Assessment Year 2017-18 on the old PAN, to which it responded by communicating the surrender of the old PAN and filing under the new PAN. Subsequent communications dated 17 June 2019 reiterated that the return of income had been filed on the new PAN, and that the old PAN was no longer applicable. Consequently, no assessment orders were passed on the old PAN for those years.
