The Delhi High Court observed that the revenue failed to prove notice under Section 148 issued after obtaining requisite administrative approval.
The petitioner-assessee, Deepak Wadhwa sought reasons for reopening the case, under Section 147 of the Act vide communication dated March 2, 2018, the reasons were furnished by the Revenue vide communication dated April 9, 2018.
Mr. Rajesh Mahna, who appears on behalf of the petitioner-assessee, has made two significant submissions.
Firstly, the notice under Section 148 of the Act, which, as indicated above, is dated March 27, 2018 was issued prior to the concerned officer obtaining necessary administrative approval.
Secondly, in any event, the petitioner-assessee had, contrary to what is portrayed in the notice issued under Section 148 of the Act, filed the Income Tax Return (ITR) for AY 2011-2012. For this purpose, Mr. Mahana relies upon the receipts issued upon filing of the ITR, inter alia, for AY- 2011-2012.
On the other hand, Ms. Adeeba Mujahid, who appears on behalf of the Revenue, has drawn my attention to the counter-affidavit wherein it is averred that the administrative approval of the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax was taken on March 26, 2018.
The division bench of Justices Rajiv Shakdher and Talwant Singh noted that even insofar as the first aspect of the matter is concerned, which is that, notice under Section 148 of the Act was issued after obtaining requisite administrative approval, the court was not satisfied with the explanation given in the counter- affidavit as no attempt has been made to explain what is stated in the impugned order dated September 28, 2018.
The court directed the Revenue will pay Rs.20,000 towards cost to the petitioner-assessee within 10 days.
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