PCIT Vs Ashish Gupta (Allahabad High Court)
Section 143(2) – Validity in Set-Aside Reassessment Proceedings and Effect of Non-Verification of Return of Income
The jurisdictional validity of reassessment proceedings hinges fundamentally on compliance with statutory safeguards embedded in the Income-tax Act, 1961. Among these, issuance of notice under Section 143(2) occupies a central and non-negotiable position. The decision of the Allahabad High Court in Principal Commissioner of Income Tax v. Ashish Gupta decisively reiterates that failure to issue notice under Section 143(2) renders reassessment proceedings void ab initio, and that such a defect cannot be cured by invoking Section 292B, even where the return filed in response to notice under Section 148 is alleged to be non-verified or defective.
The appeal before the High Court arose from an order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, Delhi Bench, which had affirmed the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) setting aside the reassessment order passed under Section 147 read with Sections 144 and 144B of the Act for Assessment Year 2015–16. Primarily, for the reason that no notice under Section 143(2) was issued to the assessee, the reassessment proceedings were set aside by the CIT (Appeals), and that finding stood confirmed by the Tribunal.
