The Rajasthan High Court declined to exercise the jurisdiction under Article 226 of Constitution of India as the income tax reassessment notice under Section 148 was challenged only after the issuance of the order instead of its inception.
The assessee-petitioner, Rama Gupta contested the validity of the notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 which pertains to the reopening of an assessment. Despite receiving the notice on 28.03.2023, the assessee did not challenge it at that time and engaged in the reassessment process. It was only after the reassessment order was passed that the petitioner approached the court with the writ petition.
The respondent’s counsel, Mr. Siddharth Bapna, having received an advance copy of the petition, argued that the petition should not be entertained. The counsel submitted that since the assessee chose not to contest the notice under Section 148 initially and participated in the reassessment proceedings, the matter should be addressed by the appellate authority.
The bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Srivatsava and Justice Bhuwan Goyal observed that “Taking into consideration the submissions and the circumstances of the case, we are not inclined to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in the matter of challenge to the validity of notice dated 28.03.2023 particularly when the petitioner himself did not challenge the same, but participated in the reassessment proceedings.”
The high court dismissed the petition, granting the petitioner the liberty to raise all available grounds under the law in challenging the reassessment order, including the validity of the reassessment notices.
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