No Need of Two Separate Satisfaction Notes If AO of the Searched Person and the Other Person is Same: SC [Read Judgment]

Satisfaction Notes - Assessing Officer - Nuns - Supreme Court - Taxscan

The Supreme Court of India has ruled that there is no need for separate satisfaction notes of the searched person and the other person if Assessment Officers of both are one and the same. It also stated that it is in compliance with the provisions of Section 153C which helps initiate a proceeding under the same.

The Director of Income Tax, Chandigarh carried out a search and seizure operation under Section 132(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961  at the residential/business premises of Shri Tejwant Singh and Shri Ved Prakash Bharti group of companies at Karnal, Panipat, and Delhi. A survey under Section 133A of the Act was also carried out at the business premises of M/s Super Mall (P) Limited – the assessee, at Karnal and New Delhi. That during the course of the search at the residence of Shri Ved Prakash Bharti, a Director in the assessee company – M/s Super Mall (P) Limited, pen drive was found and seized from the vehicle parked in front of Shri Ved Prakash Bharti’s residence. Some documents were seized after taking out the print from the above-said pen drive. The said documents contained the details of the cash receipts on sale of shops/offices at M/s Super Mall, Karnal, also besides other concerns. That as a consequence of the aforesaid search and seizure operation, a notice was issued to the assessee – M/s Super Mall (P) Limited under Section 2 153C of the Act by the Assessing Officer. Co-incidentally it so happened that the Assessing Officer of the assessee and the Assessing Officer of the search persons – Tejwant Singh and Ved Prakash Bharti- were the same.

Since as was the case, the question before the court was whether there was a compliance of the provisions of Section 153C of the Act by the Assessing Officer and all the conditions which are required to be fulfilled before initiating the proceedings under Section 153C of the Act have been satisfied or not.

Judge M.R. Shah in his judgment observed that “… in the case where the Assessing Officer of the searched person and the other person is the same, it is sufficient by the Assessing Officer to note in the satisfaction note that the documents seized from the searched person belonged to the other person. Once the note says so, then the requirement of Section 153C of the Act is fulfilled. In case, where the Assessing Officer of the searched person and the other person is the same, there can be one satisfaction notes prepared by the Assessing Officer, as he himself is the Assessing Officer of the searched person and also the Assessing Officer of the other person. However, as observed hereinabove, he must be conscious and satisfied that the documents seized/recovered from the searched person belonged to the other person. In such a situation, the satisfaction note would be qua the other person. The second requirement of transmitting the documents so seized from the searched person would not be there as he himself will be the Assessing Officer of the searched person and the other person and therefore there is no question of transmitting such seized documents to himself.”

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