Law: Income Tax Act, 1961

Section: 148,153(A),132,139,147,149,151,153

Section 148, read with section 153A, of the Income-tax Act, 1961 - Income escaping assessment - Issue of notice for - Assessment year 1997-98 - Whether only fetter put on powers of Assessing Officer in taking recourse to section 148 is that notice under said section cannot be issued in relation to those six assessment years which are defined in section 153A - Held, yes - Whether in all other cases and for all other assessment years, section 148 can always be resorted to subject of course to condition that it must satisfy requirement specified in section 148 - Held, yes FACTS Assessing Officer issued notice dated 24-3-2004 to assessee under section 148 for making reassessment for the assessment year 1997-98. The assessee filed the writ petition challenging the said notice on the ground that since the impugned notice was founded on raid conducted in his premises on 8-10-2003 in accordance with the provisions of section 132, the notice for reassessment could be issued and confined to six assessment years as provided in section 153A(a) and notice being issued under section 148 for the assessment year 1997-98 was bad being beyond the six years' period prescribed under section 153A. HELD In order to decide the legality and validity of notice issued under section 148, it is necessary to see as to whether conditions precedent provided in section 148 are satisfied or not. Once the conditions prescribed under section 148 are found present in the notice issued then, in that event, the notice has to be upheld being issued in conformity with the requirement of section 148. [Para 9] While deciding the legality of notice issued under section 148, it is not necessary to look to the provisions of section 153A because both sections operate in different field and sphere. [Para 10] The Assessing Officer does not have jurisdiction to issue notice under section 148 in respect of those six assessment years which fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of section 153A. Such was not the case in the instant case. [Para 11] Admittedly, the Assessing Officer had not issued notice of reassessment under section 153A in respect of six assessment years, i.e., 2003-04 to 1998-99 whereas he had…

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