JAYANTI REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS PRIVATE LIMITED vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD 13(3) NEW DELHI & ANR.

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W.P.(C)/138/2023HC DelhiDLHC01000134202304 March 2025Author: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR,HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE YASHWANT VARMA4 pages
AI SummaryRemanded

What did the High Court hold?

The Delhi High Court disposed of the writ petition by directing the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (AO) to evaluate the reassessment notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. This evaluation must be conducted bearing in mind the Supreme Court's judgment in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal and the High Court's own decision in Ram Balram Buildhome Pvt. Ltd. v. Income Tax Officer & Anr. The AO is required to examine the issue of the 'surviving period' for each individual noticee. The AO shall pass a reasoned and speaking order addressing the impact of these judgments on the impugned reassessment notice, determining whether it survives or is liable to be recalled. The decision in Kanwaljeet Kaur vs. Commissioner of Income Tax was followed, which also dealt with similar issues concerning Section 148 notices and the accordal of sanction under Section 151. Any adverse orders passed by the AO are open to challenge by the writ petitioner in accordance with law.

What were the facts?

The petitioner, Jayanti Real Estate Developers Private Limited, filed a writ petition challenging the reassessment action initiated by the Income Tax Officer, Ward 13(3), New Delhi, for Assessment Year 2014-15. The primary challenge revolves around the 'surviving period' for issuing the reassessment notice. The petitioner provided a summary chart indicating that the original notice under Section 148 (old regime) was issued on June 29, 2021. Subsequent communications and replies were exchanged, with the order under Section 148A(d) and the notice under Section 148 being issued on July 28, 2022. The petitioner contends that this notice was issued beyond the limitation period.

What were the issues?

1. Whether the reassessment notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for Assessment Year 2014-15 is barred by limitation, considering the surviving period as per the proviso to Section 149 and the exclusion of time as per the third proviso to Section 149. Assessee's Contention: The assessee argues that the notice issued on July 28, 2022, is beyond the permissible limitation period. They rely on a summary chart calculating the surviving period from June 29, 2021, to June 30, 2021 (1 day), extended to 7 days as per the proviso to Section 149, and excluding the period from June 29, 2021, to June 17, 2021. This calculation leads to a last date for issuing notice of June 24, 2022, making the actual issuance date of July 28, 2022, invalid. They cite the Supreme Court decision in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal and the Delhi High Court decision in Ram Balram Buildhome Pvt. Ltd. v. Income Tax Officer & Anr. Revenue's Contention: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the revenue on this issue.

Which sections of the Income-tax Act were involved?

Section 148,Section 148A,Section 149,Section 151,Section 153C

AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below

Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances
W.P.(C) 138/2023 Page 1 of 4 $~53 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 138/2023 JAYANTI REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS PRIVATE LIMITED .....Petitioner Through: Ms. Kavita Jha, Mr. Vaibhav Kulkarni and Mr. Himanshu Aggarwal, Advs. versus INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD 13(3) NEW DELHI & ANR. .....Respondent Through: Mr. Abhishek Maratha, SSC with Mr. Parth Semwal, JSC, Mr. Apoorv Agarwal, JSC and Ms. Nupur Sharma, Mr. Gaurav Singh, Mr. Bhanukaran Singh Jodha, Ms. Muskaan Goel and Mr. Himanshu Gaur, Advs. for Revenue. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE YASHWANT VARMA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SH ANKAR

O R D E R %

04.03.

2025

1.

The instant writ petition had been preferred assailing the reassessment action initiated by the respondent pertaining to Assessment Year [‘AY’] 2014-15. We take note of the principal challenge which now remains and pertains to the issue of surviving period.

2.

The petitioner, in order to buttress its claim of the proceedings being time barred, has placed for our consideration the following chart: This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/07/2025 at 18:32:11

W.P.(C) 138/2023 “SUMMARY CHART A. Key Facts:

Sl. No. PARTICULARS DATE Relevant Pg./Ann No. of HC Writ Petition

1.

Notice issued Section 148 (old regime) 29.06.2021 Pg. 15 of WP

2.

Letter communicating information pursuant to SC decision in Ashish Agarwal – reply to be filed by 02.06.2022 & Letter dated 10.06.2022 – Reply to be filed by 17.06.2022. 17.05.2022 & 10.06.2022 83-113/’D’ & 129/’G’

3.

Reply filed by Petitioner 17.06.2022 130-141/’H’

4.

Order u/s 148A(d) 28.07.2022 64-68/ ‘A’

5.

Notice issued u/s 148 28.07.2022 69-71/ ‘B’ 2014-15

2.

Period of limitation u/s 149 [3 years or 6 years] 6 years

3.

Original Period of limitation u/s 149 31.03.2021

4.

Extended period of limitation as per IT Act read with TOLA 30.06.2021 Paras 65-69

5.

Date of original notice u/s 148- deemed SCN u/s 148A(b) 29.06.2021

6.

Time surviving from date of issuance of deemed SCN till expiry of period as extended by TOLA [from 29.06.2021 till 30.06.2021] 1 days Para 109- 113

7.

Extended to 7 days as per proviso to section 149 7 days

8.

Period of deemed stay to be excluded as per 3rd proviso to section 149 [Date of Original 148 till date allowed to file reply to assessee] 29.06.2021 to 17.06.2021 Para 105- 107 This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/07/2025 at 18:32:11

W.P.(C) 138/2023 9. Last date for issuing notice u/s 148 [i.e., 17.06.2022 + 7 days] 24.06.2022 Para 77

10.

Actual date of issuance of notice u/s 148 28.07.2022

11.

Notice u/s 148 issued under new regime was outside limitation Page 77

3.

The said question would have to be necessarily examined by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer bearing in mind the judgment of the Supreme Court in Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal [2024 SCC OnLine SC 2693] as well as of this Court in Ram Balram Buildhome Pvt. Ltd. v. Income Tax Officer & Anr. [2025 SCC OnLine Del 481].

4.

Dealing with identical issues, we had disposed of a batch of writ petitions by our judgment rendered in Kanwaljeet Kaur vs. Commissioner of Income Tax [2025 SCC OnLine Del 605] in the following terms:

“27. We accordingly dispose of this batch of writ petitions by directing the concerned AOs to evaluate the individual SCNs' under Section 148 of the Act bearing in mind our judgments in T.K.S. Builders, Abhinav Jindal and Naveen Kumar Gupta. These decisions have conclusively settled issues pertaining to the accordal of sanction under Section 151 as well as the authority of the jurisdictional AO to commence and undertake reassessment. Those decisions also lay at rest the challenge which the writ petitioners had raised that an AO is bound to adhere to the procedure prescribed by Section 153C in cases emanating from a search.

28.

A similar exercise would have to be undertaken to examine the issue of surviving period in respect of each individual noticee under Section 148 and which would necessarily be guided by the judgments of Rajeev Bansal and Ram Balram.

29.

The concerned AOs shall consequently pass a reasoned and speaking order dealing with the impact of the judgments referred to above upon the impugned reassessment notices and in the manner indicated in paras 27 and 28 of this order. That decision shall thus render a finding on whether the impugned reassessment notices would survive or be liable to be recalled. It shall be open to the writ This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/07/2025 at 18:32:11

W.P.(C) 138/2023 petitioners to assail any adverse orders that may come to be passed pursuant to the above in accordance with law.”

5.

Consequently, and in light of the above, we dispose of the writ petition on terms identical to those provided in paragraphs 27 to 29 of Kanwaljeet Kaur.

YASHWANT VARMA, J

HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR, J MARCH 4, 2025/akc

This is a digitally signed order. The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 01/07/2025 at 18:32:11

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