Deepak Steel And Power Limited Vs Central Board of Direct Taxes & Ors. (Supreme Court of India)
Supreme Court of India has nullified income tax reassessment notices issued to Deepak Steel And Power Limited for Assessment Year (AY) 2015-16. The notices, dated June 25, 2021, were challenged after the Orissa High Court declined to entertain writ petitions against them, suggesting the petitioner raise grounds at a later stage, referencing previous High Court orders.
The Supreme Court, hearing the company’s appeals against the High Court’s decision, noted a crucial concession made by the Revenue (Income Tax Department) in a recent three-judge bench decision of the Supreme Court itself, Union of India and Ors. v. Rajeev Bansal (2024 SCC OnLine SC 2693). In the Rajeev Bansal case, the Revenue had conceded that for Assessment Year 2015-2016, all reassessment notices issued on or after April 1, 2021, were invalid as they would not fall within the completion period prescribed by the relevant relaxation laws enacted during the pandemic.
Given that the notices in Deepak Steel And Power Limited’s case were also for AY 2015-16 and were issued after April 1, 2021, the Supreme Court found that the Revenue’s own admitted position in the Rajeev Bansal judgment was directly applicable. Consequently, the Supreme Court allowed the appeals, quashed and set aside the impugned notices dated June 25, 2021, bringing an end to the reassessment proceedings initiated by those specific notices.
