Case Law Details
Luxe Trading And Holding (India) Pvt. Ltd. Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
From a perusal of the reasons, it is seen that the notice u/s. 148 of the Act has been issued mechanically without application of mind and the satisfaction by the Assessing Officer is only the borrowed satisfaction of the Investigation Wing. The Assessing Officer, without applying his mind, has simply on the basis of information of the Investigation Wing jumped to the conclusion that there is escapement of income. From the perusal of the aforesaid reasons, I do not find any application of mind by the AO for reaching to the conclusion that there was escapement of income except the information from the Investigation Wing. Therefore, I find considerable cogency in the contention of the Ld. Counsel for the assessee that AO has completed the assessment in dispute u/s. 147/143(3) of the Act without appreciating the facts and circumstances of the case and wrongly assumed the jurisdiction u/s. 148 of the Act, 1961, which is in violation of mandatory jurisdictional conditions as stipulated under the Act. He further stated that Ld. First Appellate Authority has wrongly upheld the order of the AO and dismissed the appeal of the assessee without passing any reasonable and elaborate finding as well as legal without properly adjudicating the legal ground as per the written submissions filed by the assessee, which is against the law and facts on the file. Ld. Counsel for the assessee further stated that the AO has completed the assessment and Ld. CIT(A) has wrongly upheld the order of the Ld. CIT(A) without appreciating that the reasons in this case are based on borrowed satisfaction and without independent application of mind. Lastly, he submitted that exactly similar issue has already been adjudicated and decided in favour of the assessee by the ITAT, Delhi ‘G’ Bench, New Delhi in the case of M/s SBS Realtors (P) Ltd. Vs. ITO decided in ITA No. 7791/Del/2018 (AY 2009-10) vide order dated 01.04.2019. He has also filed the copy of this order in the shape of Paper Book and especially draw my attention towards the page no. 100-112. He requested that in this case the Bench has elaborately discussed the various case laws rendered by the Jurisdictional High Court and declared the invalid assessment. He further requested that in view of the order dated 01.04.2019 passed in the case of M/s SBS Realtors (P) Ltd. Vs. ITO (Supra) the legal ground involved in this appeal may be decided in favour of the assessee and notice u/s. 148 of the Act may be quashed and accordingly assessment in pursuance of the notice may also be quashed by accepting the appeal of the assessee.
Respectfully following the precedents, ITAT quashed the notice issued under section 148 of the Act and consequently, the assessment completed in pursuance thereto. Since the notice issued u/s. 148 of the Act is quashed, the assessment order passed in pursuance to such notice is also quashed. Once the assessment order itself has been quashed, the other grounds raised by the assessee in its appeal do not require any adjudication on merits.
FULL TEXT OF THE ITAT JUDGEMENT
These 03 appeals have been filed by the separate assessees against the respective orders passed by the different Ld. CIT(A)s’ pertaining to respective assessment years.
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