Veda Real Estate Corporation Private Limited Vs DCIT (ITAT Mumbai)
ITAT Mumbai quashes reassessment—retracted search statements & missing DIN render addition on land cash investment void
ITAT Mumbai quashed the reassessment & deleted ₹4.20 lakh addition on alleged cash investment in “Agarsure land”. The addition was based solely on uncorroborated Excel sheets & retracted search statements of third parties.
Tribunal held that AO failed to conduct independent verification & relied on “dumb documents”. Retractions nullified evidentiary value of earlier statements. Further, the reassessment was void ab initio due to three jurisdictional defects —
(i) notice u/s 148 issued by wrong (jurisdictional) AO instead of Faceless AO;
(ii) missing pre-generated DIN in violation of CBDT Circular 19/2019;
(iii) incorrect reference to search in notice u/s 148.
Citing Reliance Industries, Kailashben Chokshi, Hexaware Technologies, & Mohd Farhan A. Shaikh, Tribunal ruled that the order was invalid & non est in law.
Result: Assessment quashed, addition deleted in full.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT MUMBAI
The present batch of appeals emanates from a series of assessment and reassessment orders passed pursuant to search and survey operations conducted in the group cases of The Estate Investment Company Pvt. Ltd.[Estate] and its connected entities., [hereinafter referred to as the Sekseria Group of Companies ] The appeals have been filed against separate order passed by ld. CIT(A)-50, Mumbai. This appeal arises against order of ld. CIT(A) dated 15/04/2025.
