Ayaan Buildcon Pvt. Ltd. Vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi)
AO Cannot Reopen on the Same Material Examined in U/s 153C Assessment: ITAT Quashes ₹2.90 Crore Addition
The Delhi ITAT quashed the reassessment proceedings against Ayaan Buildcon Pvt. Ltd. for AY 2013-14, holding that the reopening under sections 147/148 was based on a complete non-application of mind and merely recycled information that had already been examined in an earlier assessment under section 153C.
The assessee company was one of the entities linked to the Himanshu Verma group, where search proceedings had revealed an alleged network of shell companies used for providing accommodation entries. Pursuant to the search, assessments for several years were completed under section 153C read with section 143(3). In that assessment itself, the Department had concluded that Ayaan Buildcon was merely a paper/shell company controlled by Himanshu Verma and that any income arising from accommodation entry activities was liable to be assessed in the hands of Himanshu Verma and not in the hands of the shell entities. The assessment was accordingly completed at Nil income.
Subsequently, the AO reopened the assessment on the basis of information received through the CRUI/Insight portal, alleging that the assessee had received accommodation entries of ₹2.90 crore from Pranam Foods Pvt. Ltd. and made an addition under section 68. The assessee challenged the reopening on the ground that no fresh material had emerged after the completion of the earlier 153C assessment.
The Tribunal accepted the contention and observed that once the Department had already examined the role of the assessee as a shell company during the 153C proceedings, any subsequent reopening could be justified only if it was based on new and independent material not previously considered. In the present case, the information relied upon by the AO was merely an offshoot of the same search material and investigation relating to the Himanshu Verma group that had already been examined in the earlier proceedings.
The ITAT noted that the AO had simply relied upon information generated from the CRUI/Insight portal without independently examining whether any fresh facts existed warranting reassessment. Such mechanical reliance on departmental information, without application of mind to the assessee’s specific facts already examined in the concluded 153C assessment, rendered the reopening invalid.
Accordingly, the Tribunal held that the reassessment proceedings lacked jurisdiction and quashed the reopening itself. Since the very foundation of the reassessment failed, the addition of ₹2.90 crore under section 68 also stood deleted.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT DELHI
This appeal is preferred by the Assessee against the order dated 25.09.2025 of the Ld. Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-30, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the First Appellate Authority or ‘the ld. FAA’ for short) in DIN No: ITBA/APL/M/250/2025-26/1081171242(1) arising out of the order dated 24.02.2022 u/s 147/143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) passed by DCIT, Central Circle-29, New Delhi, for AY: 2013-14.
