First India Estates And Services Pvt. Ltd v. Income Tax Officer & Anr

$~100*IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI+W.P.(C) 418/2023 FIRST INDIA ESTATES AND SERVICES PVT. LTD......PetitionerThrough:Ms. Kavita Jha, Sr. Adv. with Mr.Vaibhav Kulkarni, Mr. A. Bali & Mr.Himanshu Aggarwal, Advs. Versus INCOME TAX OFFICER & ANR......RespondentsThrough:Mr. Debesh Panda, Ms. Zehra Khan,Mr. Vikramaditya, Ms. A. Shankar,Ms. Yashika & Ms. Delphina, Advs. CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRUHON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJAS KARIAO R D E R24.04.2025 % 1.The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, impugning anotice dated 29.07.2022 issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act,1961 [the Act] and further proceedings relating to the said notice in respectof assessment year 2015-16. 2.The petitioner is a private limited company and is engaged in thebusiness of real estate. The petitioner filed its return of income for the AY2015-16 on 18.09.2015, declaring loss of ₹2,85,447/-. 3.The Assessing Officer issued a notice dated 21.06.2021 underSection 148 of the Act seeking to reopen the assessment for AY 2015-16.Although the said notice was issued after 31.03.2021, the procedure asprescribed under Section 148A of the Act was not followed, as the notice waspremised on the provisions relating to reassessment as were in force prior to31.03.2021. 4.Thereafter, by a communication dated 23.05.2022, the AO referred to This is a digitally signed order.the decision of the Supreme Court in Union of India & Ors. v. AshishThe authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 30/04/2025 at 15:49:15Agarwal: (2022) 444 ITR 1 and forwarded certain information, which,The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 30/04/2025 at 15:49:15Agarwal: (2022) 444 ITR 1 and forwarded certain information, which, according to the AO, suggested that the petitioner’s income had escapedassessment. The said communication also mentioned that in terms of theaforementioned decision in Union of India & Ors. v. Ashish Agarwal(supra), the impugned notice issued under Section 148 of the Act wasdeemed to be a notice under Section 148A(b) of the Act. The petitionerresponded to the said notice on 20.06.2022. 5.The AO passed an order dated 29.07.2022 under Section 148A(d) ofthe Act holding that it was a fit case for issuance of a notice under Section148 of the Act in respect of AY 2015-16. The said order was forwarded to thepetitioner along with a notice dated 29.07.2022 issued under Section 148 ofthe Act. 6.The petitioner contends that the proceedings initiated pursuant to theimpugned notice dated 29.07.2022 are required to be set aside in view of theconcession made by the Revenue before the Supreme Court in Union ofIndia and Ors. v. Rajeev Bansal: 2024 INSC 754. 7.It is relevant to refer to paragraph 19(e) and 19(f) from the decision ofthe Supreme Court in Union of India and Ors. v. Rajeev Bansal (supra),which sets out the concession as made on behalf of the Revenue: “The Finance Act 2021 substituted the old regime for re-assessment with a new regime. The first proviso to Section 149does not expressly bar the application of TOLA. Section 3 ofTOLA applies to the entire Income-tax Act, including Sections149 and 151 of the new regime. Once the first proviso toSection 149(1)(b) is read with TOLA, then all the noticesissued between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 pertaining toassessment years 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, and2017-18 will be within the period of limitation as explained inthe tabulation below: f. The Revenue concedes that for the assessment year 2015-16,all notices issued on or after 1 April 2021 will have to bedropped as they will not fall for completion during the periodprescribed under TOLA;” “The Finance Act 2021 substituted the old regime for re-assessment with a new regime. The first proviso to Section 149does not expressly bar the application of TOLA. Section 3 ofTOLA applies to the entire Income-tax Act, including Sections149 and 151 of the new regime. Once the first proviso toSection 149(1)(b) is read with TOLA, then all the noticesissued between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2021 pertaining toassessment years 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, and2017-18 will be within the period of limitation as explained inthe tabulation below: f. The Revenue concedes that for the assessment year 2015-16,all notices issued on or after 1 April 2021 will have to bedropped as they will not fall for completion during the periodprescribed under TOLA;” 8.In view of the above concession, the impugned notice and theproceedings relating thereto are required to be set aside. We may also notethe decision of the Supreme Court in Deepak Steel and Power Ltd. v. CentralBoard of Direct Taxes and Ors.: Civil Appeal No.5177/2025, decided on02.04.2025. The said appeal arose from orders passed by the Hon’ble HighCourt of Orissa and Cuttack declining to entertain batch of petitions filed bythe Assessees. The attention of the Supreme Court was drawn to theconcession made on behalf of the Revenue in Union of India & Ors. v.Rajeev Bansal (supra) and noting the same, the Supreme Court allowed theappeals. The relevant extract of the said decision is set out below: “4. The learned counsel appearing for the revenue with hisusual fairness invited the attention of this Court to a threejudge bench decision of this Court in Union of India and Ors.v. Rajeev Bansal, reported in 2024 SCC OnLine SC 2693,more particularly, paragraph 19(f) which reads thus:-usual fairness invited the attention of this Court to a threejudge bench decision of this Court in Union of India and Ors.v. Rajeev Bansal, reported in 2024 SCC OnLine SC 2693,more particularly, paragraph 19(f) which reads thus:- “19. (f) The Revenue concedes that for the assessmentyear 2015-2016, all notices issued on or after April 1,2021 will have to be dropped as they will not fall forcompletion during the period prescribed under theTaxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendmentof Certain Provisions) Act, 2020.”year 2015-2016, all notices issued on or after April 1,2021 will have to be dropped as they will not fall forcompletion during the period prescribed under theTaxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendmentof Certain Provisions) Act, 2020.” This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above.5. As the revenue made a concession in the aforesaid decisionThe Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 30/04/2025 at 15:49:15The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 30/04/2025 at 15:49:15 that is for the assessment year 2015-2016, all notices issued onor after 1st April, 2021 will have to be dropped as they wouldnot fall for completion during the period prescribed under thetaxation and other laws (Relaxation and Amendment of certainProvisions Act, 2020). Nothing further is required to beadjudicated in this matter as the notices so far as the presentlitigation is concerned is dated 25.6.2021. 6. In view of the aforesaid, in such circumstances referred toabove the original writ petition nos.2446 of 2023, 2543 of 2023and 2544 of 2023 respectively filed before the High Court ofOrissa at cuttack stands allowed. 9.The notice dated 29.07.2022 issued under Section 148 of the Actstands quashed and set aside. Concededly, the controversy is covered infavour of the petitioner by the decision of this court in Makemytrip IndiaPvt. Ltd. v. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax Circle 16 (1) Delhi &Anr.: Neutral Citation No.: 2025:DHC:1892-DB. 10.The petition is, accordingly, allowed and all proceedings initiatedpursuant thereto are set aside. VIBHU BAKHRU, J APRIL 24, 2025‘gsr’ TEJAS KARIA, J Click here to check corrigendum, if any