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In our considerate view, Section 147 and 148 are charter to the Revenue to reopen earlier assessments and are, therefore protected by safeguards against unnecessary harassment of the assessee. They are sword for the Revenue and shield for the assessee.
In the instant case, the only question which arises for our consideration and decision is whether the High Court was justified in interfering with the order passed by the assessing authority under Section 148 of the Act in exercise of its jurisdiction under Article 226
The subsequent reversal of the legal position by the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court does not authorize the department to reopen the assessement which stood closed on the basis of the law, as it stood at the relevant time.”
The assessment in the instant case was re-opened on the ground that the Special Bench of the Tribunal in the assessee’s own case for AY 2006-07 had reversed the earlier decision of the Tribunal in the assessee’s case for AY 2005-06 whereby the Special Bench held that the commission of Rs.1 .20 crores to the three Directors was in lieu of dividend and the same was not allowable as deduction under Section 36(1)(ii).
Whether notice u/s 148 can be issued for disallowance of a particular expense which has been duly examined by the AO during the Assessment proceedings by asking for specific details but not mentioned in Assessment Order.
Brief facts of the case are that the respondent is a joint venture with Government of Madhya Pradesh, declared its total income nil in its return filed for the assessment year 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. The book profit was calculated under section 115JB of the Act.
Since the present case did not suffer from non-disclosure or omission to disclose ‘fully and truly’ the facts by the assessee, the Assessing Officer could not have been held, and was rightly not held by the learned Tribunal, to have had the jurisdiction to re-open the assessment and make assessment as in the present case.In the present case all the material facts, which were necessary for making a correct assessment, had been furnished, in the case at hand, to the Assessing Officer and when the Assessing Officer had failed to make correct assessment, the Revenue cannot blame the assessee and take recourse to the proviso to Section 147 for the purpose of re-opening the assessment.
It is an admitted position that no notice under Section 143(2) had been issued while making assessment under Section 143(3) read with Section 147. The Apex Court in the case of National Thermal Power Co. Ltd. v. CIT [1998] 229 ITR 383 has held that the Tribunal has discretion to allow or not to allow a new ground to be raised. But in a case where the Tribunal is only required to consider the question of law arising from facts which are on record in the assessment proceedings, there is no reason why such a question should not be allowed to be raised when it is necessary to consider that question in order to correctly assess the tax liability of an assessee.
Legal Foundation of Provisions The fundamental legal and common-sense principle which help understanding and appreciating the requirements of valid actions and procedures for re-opening the assessments is, that in general, the law disfavours the unsettling of settled and concluded status/ proceedings. It is easy to understand why it should be so.
As is more than apparent, assessment was completed on scrutiny. In post assessment period, audit party raised the objection and Assessing Officer had strongly objected to such objections by communicating internally as mentioned hereinabove. In such background, reasons for reopening if are noted, they are almost identically worded as that of audit report. No material worth the name emerges to indicate any independent application of mind. Facts are quite glaring on the contrary & they clearly establish absence of subjective satisfaction of Assessing Officer. Thus, the ground raised by the petitioner that such notice of reopening is invalid for the Assessing Officer having not formed his independent belief requires to be sustained.
