Satish Thourani Vs Union of India (Chhattisgarh High Court)
The Chhattisgarh High Court held that where the Assessing Officer obtains prior approval under Section 148A(a) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to conduct an inquiry, he cannot bypass that inquiry and directly issue a notice under Section 148A(b). In the present case, the annexure to the notice under Section 148A(b) recorded that approval had been granted by the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Raipur on 14.02.2024 for conducting an inquiry. However, without conducting any inquiry, the Assessing Officer issued the notice under Section 148A(b), passed an order under Section 148A(d), and issued a notice under Section 148. The Revenue contended that the writ petition was premature as the reassessment proceedings were only at a preliminary stage. The High Court held that Section 148A prescribes a sequential statutory procedure and, having obtained approval to conduct an inquiry, the Assessing Officer could not omit that step. Accordingly, the Court allowed the writ petition, quashed the notice under Section 148A(b), the order under Section 148A(d), and the notice under Section 148, and remitted the matter to the Assessing Officer to first conduct an inquiry under Section 148A(a) and thereafter proceed in accordance with law.
