Wealth First Portfolio Managers Limited Vs ACIT (Gujarat High Court)
The petitioner filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging the notice dated 31.08.2022 issued under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for Assessment Year 2016-17, contending that the notice was invalid and barred by limitation.
The Assessing Officer had initially issued a notice dated 29.06.2021 under Section 148 during the extended limitation period available under the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (TOLA). Following the decision of the Supreme Court in Union of India and others v. Ashish Agarwal, the notice issued during the transition period was required to be treated as a notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act after the new reassessment regime came into force from 01.04.2021.
The High Court noted that the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal had laid down that the validity of such reassessment notices depends upon the “surviving time” available between the issuance of the original notice under TOLA up to 30.06.2021 and the issuance of the fresh notice under Section 148 after compliance with the procedure prescribed in Ashish Agarwal. The Court also referred to its earlier decision in Dhanraj Govindram Kella v. Income Tax Officer, Ward(2), Surendranagar, where the principles governing computation of the surviving limitation period had been examined in detail. That decision held that reassessment notices issued after expiry of the surviving time would be invalid and liable to be quashed.
