Chetak Nandkumar Gandhi Vs ITO (Gujarat High Court)
Gujarat High Court held that notice under section 148A(b) cannot be issued for verification on the part of the Assessing Officer. Such verification is to be conducted u/s. 148A(a) prior to issuance of notice. Thus, order passed thereon is liable to be quashed and set aside.
Facts- The petitioner is the son of late Ms. Mrudula Gandhi. A notice dated 17.03.2023 under section 148A(b) of the Act was issued in name of late Ms. Mrudula Gandhi to explain the source of credit amounting to Rs. 1,23,70,612/- appearing in her bank accounts for the Financial Year 2018-19 relevant to Assessment Year 2019-20.
By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the notice dated 17.03.2023 issued under section 148A(b) of the Income Tax Act,1961 as well as notice dated 31.03.2023 under section 148 of the Act and the order dated 31.03.2023 under section 148A(d) of the Act.
Conclusion- In the facts of the present case, it seems that the Assessing Officer has not understood the purport and the purpose of insertion of section 148A of the Act and the provision of clause (a) and clause (b) are mixed up in the notice issued under section 148A(b) of the Act resulting into such notices being bad in law from the inception.
