Akansha Gupta Vs ACIT (ITAT Delhi)
The Delhi Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal allowed the appeal filed by Akansha Gupta for Assessment Year 2021-22 and quashed the assessment order passed under Section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act.
The assessee had filed her return declaring total income of ₹63,67,760. A search and seizure action was conducted on 6 January 2021 in the cases of Hans Group/Praveen Jain/Janco Limited and related persons. During the search, digital evidence, including clone data of Praveen Kumar Jain’s mobile, was seized. According to the Assessing Officer, a “Kachi Parchi” contained evidence of unaccounted cash of ₹94 lakh and commission payment of ₹2.50 lakh relating to the sale of a property by the assessee.
The AO completed assessment under Section 143(3) on 29 December 2022, making additions of ₹94 lakh towards undisclosed sales consideration and ₹2.50 lakh as unexplained expenditure. The CIT(A) confirmed the additions.
Before the ITAT, the assessee raised additional legal grounds challenging the jurisdiction of the AO. The assessee submitted that the seized documents were received by the AO on 30 June 2022, when the satisfaction note was recorded. Therefore, relying on the decisions in Jasjit Singh, DSL Properties Pvt. Ltd., and V.K. Fiscal Services Pvt. Ltd., it was contended that the relevant six-year period under Section 153C had to be determined with reference to 30 June 2022.
