Reopening U/s. 147 on mere Audit Opinion is not valid

 The power to reopen a completed assessment under Section 147 of the Act has been bestowed on the Assessing Officer, if he has reason to believe  that any income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for any assessment year. However, this belief that income has escaped assessment has to be the reasonable belief of the Assessing Officer himself and cannot be an opinion and/or belief of some other authority. In fact, the Supreme Court in the matter of India Eastern Newspaper Society v. Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi, reported in 119 ITR page 996 has held that whether an assessment ha...