Aneri Dipakkumar Patel Vs ITO (Gujarat High Court)
Section 148 Reassessment Challenge
The Gujarat High Court allowed the writ petition challenging the order dated 20.08.2022 under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the Section 148 notice of the same date and consequential reassessment proceedings for Assessment Year 2014-15. The petitioner contended that the notice was invalid and time barred.
The Assessing Officer had originally issued a Section 148 notice on 21.05.2021 during the extended period under the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 (TOLA). Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Union of India and others v. Ashish Agarwal, (2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC), the notice was to be treated as a notice under Section 148A(b) under the reassessment regime effective from 01.04.2021.
Surviving Limitation Under Ashish Agarwal and Rajeev Bansal
The Court referred to Union of India Rajeev Bansal, (2024) 469 ITR 46 (SC), concerning the surviving time available for issuing reassessment notices after applying TOLA and the directions in Ashish Agarwal. The Court also relied on its earlier decision in Dhanraj Govindram Kella, which held that the validity of each reassessment notice had to be determined by examining the dates of the original Section 148 notice, supply of information under Section 148A(b), reply, Section 148A(d) order and subsequent Section 148 notice.
