Pankaj Saini v. Income Tax Officer & Ors

$~21 *IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI +W.P.(C) 8015/2022 & CM APPL.24373/2022 PANKAJ SAINI ..... PetitionerThrough:Mr. Arvind Kumar and Ms. DevinaSharma, Advocates. versus INCOME TAX OFFICER & ORS...... RespondentsThrough:Mr. Puneet Rai and Ms. AdeebaMujahid, Advocates. % Date of Decision: 2[nd]June, 2022 CORAM:HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANMOHANHON'BLE MS. JUSTICE MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA MANMOHAN, J (Oral): J U D G M E N T 1.Present writ petition has been filed challenging the notice issuedunder Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘Act’) dated 31[st]March, 2021 as well as the assessment order passed under Section 147 of theAct for the Assessment Year 2017-18 and the demand notice issued underSection 156 of the Act dated 31[st]March, 2022. 2.Learned counsel for the Petitioner states that the impugned noticedated 31[st]March, 2021 has not been preceded by recording of reasons tobelieve that there has been escapement of income for the Assessment Year2017-18, which is a mandatory requirement for issuance of notice under W.P.(C) 8015/2022 Page 1 of 3 Section 148 of the Act. He states that the upon perusal of the copy of thereasons to believe for re-opening of assessment, which was provided on 22[nd]March, 2022 by the Respondent, it is apparent that the said reasons tobelieve has been recorded by the Respondent No.1 on 22[nd]April, 2021 onlyi.e. after having issued the impugned notice. 3.On the last date of hearing, this Court had directed the AssessingOfficer to be personally present in Court along with the file. Today, theAssessing Officer is personally present along with the relevant files. 4.A perusal of the said files reveals that the Petitioner had been issuedtwo show cause notices dated 31[st]March, 2021 and 24[th]May, 2021 underSection 148 of the Act. The Assessing Officer states that second show causenotice was issued as the approval form containing the sanction of the SeniorOfficers for notice dated 31[st]March, 2021 had been misplaced duringscanning, and thus he had issued a second show cause notice dated 24[th]May,2021 after obtaining approval/sanction from senior officers on 22[nd]April,2022. He clarifies that the reasons to believe recorded on 22[nd]April, 2021pertained to notice dated 24[th]May, 2021 issued under Section 148 of theAct. 5.Keeping in view the aforesaid facts which are evident from the record,this Court sets aside the notice dated 31[st]March, 2021 issued under Section148 as well as the assessment order dated 31[st]March, 2022 for theAssessment Year 2017-18. 6.However, this Court clarifies that the Respondents are at liberty toproceed ahead with the second show cause notice dated 24[th]May, 2021issued under Section 148 of the Act in accordance with the judgment of theSupreme Court in Union of India & Ors. vs. Ashish Agarwal, reported in W.P.(C) 8015/2022 Page 2 of 3 2022 SCC OnLine SC 543. 7.With the aforesaid direction, the present writ petition and applicationare disposed of. This Court clarifies that it has not commented on the meritsof the controversy. The rights and contentions of all the parties are left open. MANMOHAN, J JUNE 2, 2022AS MANMEET PRITAM SINGH ARORA, J W.P.(C) 8015/2022