VIVEK GUPTA,NEW DELHI vs. DCIT, CENTRAL CIRCLE-26, DELHI, NEW DELHI

Brief facts of the case are that, a search and seizure proceedings was carried out on the Alankit Group on 18/10/2019. Assessment proceedings have been initiated against the Assessee u/s 153C of the

The Ld. Counsel for the Assessee vehemently submitted that the Assessee is a non-corporate entity situated in a Metro city, therefore, monetary limits prescribed by the CBDT under Instruction No.1/2011 dated 31/01/2011 is applicable which, stipulates that in respect of non- corporate Assessee’s in Metro Cities, the jurisdiction is bifurcated based on returned income. The cases involving returned income up to 20,00,000/- being assigned to the Income Tax Officer and other cases where the returned income exceeds 20,00,000/- falls with the jurisdiction of Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax/Assistant Commission of Income Tax. Further submitted that on the date of issuance of notice u/s 153C of the Act i.e. 29/06/2022. The returned income of the Assessee was Rs. 62,50,520/-, which is far in excess than the threshold of Rs. 20,00,000/-. Therefore, the jurisdiction over the Assessee vested with DCIT/ACIT and not the Income Tax Officer. Thus,

Per contra, the Ld. Departmental Representative submitted that the assessment proceedings has been initiated by the Officer who is competent to frame the assessment and the assessment has been framed in accordance with law and the Ground No. 3 of the Assessee is a hyper technical which cannot be entertained by the Tribunal in this stage. Thus, relying on the orders of the Lower Authorities sought for dismissal of the Appeal.

We have heard both the parties and perused the material available on record. In the present case, the notice u/s 153C has been issued on 29/06/2022, which is for the relevant Financial year 2022-23 and the corresponding Assessment Year would be Assessment Year 2023-24. This would be taken as the first year, and the block period would

It is evident from the above chart that in the block period, the returned income of the Assessee exceeds threshold of 20,00,000/- prescribed by the CBDT Instruction 1/2021, therefore, the DCIT/ACIT shall have jurisdiction to initiate proceedings u/s 153C of the Act. A perusal of the aforesaid chart clearly demonstrates that, even within this block period, the returned income of the assessee exceeds the threshold limit prescribed under CBDT Instruction No. 1/2011. Therefore, jurisdiction could not have been exercised by the Income Tax

In view of the above, we find merits in the Ground No. 1 of the Assessee, accordingly, the assessment orders passed by the A.O. which has been confirmed by the Ld. CIT(A) are hereby set aside.

Since, we have allowed the Ground No.13 of the Assessee other grounds of Appeal of the Assessee renders become in-fructuous.

In the result, Appeals of the Assessee are allowed.