Benaifer Vispi Patel Vs ITO Ward 1 (Bombay High Court)
Bombay High Court held that initiation of re-assessment proceedings u/s. 148 of the Income Tax Act without verifying the information derived from the mechanism of faceless collection of information is unsustainable and liable to be quashed.
Facts-The petitioner filed her return of income for the said Assessment Year on 22nd December, 2020. Subsequent thereto, on 16th January, 2021, an intimation was issued to the petitioner u/s. 143(1) of the Act without any addition, accepting the total income disclosed by the petitioner in her return of income.
On 2nd April, 2021, “information” was received on the Insight Portal, intimating the petitioner of discrepancies in regard to the “interest income” set out in the return filed for the assessment year in question. Such information indicated that the income of the petitioner from other sources was of Rs.26,41,234.65/-. The petitioner replied to the said information on 3rd April, 2021. Thereafter, for a period of almost two years, no steps were taken by respondent No.1.
Almost after a period of more than one year, respondent No. 1 issued to the petitioner, the impugned notice u/s. 148 of the Act along with the approval of respondent No.2 and the Preliminary Verification Report.
