Reopening u/s. 148 based on Supreme Court judgement untenable: Madras HC

By POONAM GANDHI Income Tax Judiciary , Trending March 28, 2025

TaxGuru Citation: 2025 taxguru.in 2140
Case Name: Merton Vs DCIT (Madras High Court)
Appeal Number: Only available for paid members
Date of Judgement/Order: Only available for paid members
Courts: All High Courts, Madras High Court

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Merton Vs DCIT (Madras High Court)

Madras High Court held that reopening of assessment u/s. 148 of the Income Tax Act based on the judgement of Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement is tenable as Supreme Court has not given direction to reopen completed assessment.

Facts-

The specific case of the petitioner is that earlier a notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 was issued to the petitioner on 28.06.2021 and in response to the same, the petitioner submitting to the jurisdiction replied to the said notice which has culminated in an Assessment Order dated 30.03.2022. The Assessment Order dated 30.03.2022 has been accepted both by the Department and by the petitioner and no further proceedings were initiated thereafter.

However, the Department has issued a notice under Section 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on 01.06.2022 in the light of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Union of India Ashish Agarwal rendered on 04.05.2022.

Conclusion-

Held that the Hon’ble Supreme Court has not given a direction to the Assessing Officer to reopen the assessment even when the assessment was completed earlier by treating the notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 as the notice issued under Section 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 as amended with effect from 01.04.2021. Therefore, the impugned order passed by the 1^st respondent under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 dated 31.07.2022 and the consequential notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 dated 31.07.2022 for the Assessment Year 2017-2018 are quashed.