Gateway Leaisng Pvt Ltd Vs ACIT (Bombay High Court)
Section 148- Revenue cannot travel beyond reasons recorded & same cannot be supplemented at the Later stage. Reasons which are recorded by the Assessing Officer for re-opening an assessment are the only reasons which can be considered when the formation of the belief is impugned; such reasons cannot be supplemented subsequently by affidavit (s).
The grounds or reasons which led to formation of the belief that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment must have a material bearing on the question of escapement of income of the assessee from assessment because of his failure or omission to disclose fully and truly all material facts. Once there exists reasonable grounds for the Income Tax Officer to form the above belief that would be sufficient to clothe him with jurisdiction to issue notice. However, sufficiency of the grounds is not justiceable. The expression “reason to believe” does not mean a purely subjective satisfaction on the part of the Income Tax Officer. The reason must be held in good faith. It cannot be merely a pretence. It is open to the court to examine whether the reasons for the formation of the belief have a rational connection with or a relevant bearing on the formation of the belief and are not extraneous or irrelevant. To this limited extent, initiation of proceedings in respect of income escaping assessment is open to challenge in a court of law.
