Manoj Kumar Bagree Vs ITO (Calcutta High Court)
Calcutta High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by Manoj Kumar Bagree challenging a reassessment order issued under Section 147 read with Sections 144 and 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for the assessment year 2019-20. The court primarily based its decision on the availability of an alternative statutory remedy and rejected the petitioner’s argument that the order under Section 148A(d) was barred by limitation.
The petitioner had approached the High Court seeking to annul the assessment order dated January 16, 2025. The core of Bagree’s challenge rested on two main contentions. Firstly, a jurisdictional issue was raised, arguing that the notice under Section 148 of the Act was issued by the jurisdictional assessing officer, which the petitioner deemed improper, particularly after a new scheme was notified under Section 151A of the Act. However, the petitioner admitted to participating in the subsequent proceedings, though asserting that such participation should not be construed as submitting to the assessing officer’s jurisdiction.
Secondly, and more significantly, the petitioner contended that the order passed under Section 148A(d) of the Act for the relevant assessment year was beyond the statutory period and thus barred by limitation. This argument was central to the writ petition, as a time-barred proceeding would render the entire reassessment invalid.
