A division bench of the Bombay High Court has held that an unsigned re-assessment notice under section 147/148 under the Income Tax Act, 1961 is invalid.
The petitioner, Prakash Krishnavtar Bhardwaj, is a non-resident Indian, residing in Dubai, UAE and since his total income for the relevant financial year was below the maximum amount chargeable to tax, he was not required to file his return of income for the relevant assessment year 2015- 16. The petitioner received a notice dated 21.03.2022 under clause (b) of section 148A of the Act from the income tax department stating that he had information that the income chargeable to tax for the relevant assessment year had escaped assessment, within the meaning of section 147 of the Act and called upon the petitioner to show-cause why a notice u/s.148 of the Act should not be issued.
The petitioner contended before the division bench that the notice issued u/ s.148 dated 02.04.2022 was unsigned both digitally and manually and was never received by the petitioner by e-mail or for that matter even uploaded onto the system via e-mail.
While quashing the proceedings for want of jurisdiction, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Valmiki Sa Menezes observed that “the notice u/s.148 dated 02.04.2022 having no signature affixed on it, digitally or manually, the same is invalid and would not vest the Assessing Officer with any further jurisdiction to proceed to reassess the income of the petitioner. Consequently, the notice dated 02.04.2022 u/s.148 of the Act issued to the petitioner being invalid and sought to be issued after three years from the end of the relevant assessment year 2015-16 with which we are concerned in this petition, any steps taken by the respondents in furtherance of notice dated 21.03.2022 issued under clause (b) of section 148A of the Act and order dated 02.04.2022 issued under clause (d) of section 148A of the Act, would be without jurisdiction, and therefore, arbitrary and contrary to Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Consequently, we quash and set aside the notice dated 02.04.2022 issued by the respondents u/s.148 of the Act, order dated 02.04.2022 under clause (b) of section 148A of the Act and notice dated 21.03.2022 issued under clause (b) of section 148A of the Act.”
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to TaxscanAdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.
