NOOR SALEEM RANA,MUZAFFARNAGAR vs. ITO, MUZAFFARNAGAR
In favour of the assessee: the assessee's appeal was allowed. From the AI summary of this appeal.
What did the Tribunal hold?
The Tribunal held that the reopening of assessment under Section 147 was invalid as the AO had not applied his independent mind but merely acted upon information received from the Investigation Wing. Consequently, the reassessment orders were quashed.
What were the facts?
The Assessing Officer (AO) reopened the assessee's assessment based on information from the Director of Income Tax (Investigation) regarding accommodation entries. The AO made an addition of Rs. 5,00,000 for AY 2002-03 and Rs. 2,50,000 for AY 2004-05.
What were the issues?
Whether the reopening of assessment under Section 147 was valid when based solely on information from the Investigation Wing without independent application of mind by the AO.
Which sections of the Income-tax Act were involved?
AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below
Cases cited in this judgment(2)Show listHide list
Detected automatically from the text. Citations are also linked where they appear in the judgment. The count shows how many other judgments on BharatTax rely on the same authority.
- 222 Taxman 15 (Gujarat)(MAG.), Principal Commissioner of Income-tax-4 v. G & G Pharma India Ltd.274 citing384 ITR 147 · 2016 · HC
- CIT v. SFIL Stock Broking Ltd.243 citing325 ITR 285 · 2010 · HC · Read judgment
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH ‘E’, NEW DELHI
Heard together (2 matters)
Read from the judgment's own cause title. This page is filed under one of them.
IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL DELHI BENCH ‘E’, NEW DELHI Before Sh. N. K. Saini, AM and Sh. Amit Shukla, JM Asstt. Year : 2002-03 : Asstt. Year : 2004-05 Noor Saleem Rana, Vs Income Tax Officer, New Rana House, Ward-2(1), Muzaffarnagar Muzaffarnagar (APPELLANT) (RESPONDENT) PAN No. AGUPS4768H Assessee by : Sh. V. K. Tulsiyan, CA Revenue by : Sh. Rajesh Kumar, Sr. DR Date of Hearing : 20.04.2017 Date of Pronouncement : 26.04.2017 ORDER Per N. K. Saini, AM:
These appeals by the assessee are directed against the separate orders each dated 28.08.2012 of ld. CIT(A), Muzaffarnagar.
Since the issues involved are common and the appeals were heard together so these are being disposed off by this consolidated order for the sake of convenience and brevity.
First we will deal with the appeal in 2002-03, following grounds have been raised in this appeal:
2 & 5972/Del/2012 Noor Saleem Rana “1. Whether the Ld.CIT(A) was justified by upholding the jurisdiction u/s 147/148, which is without jurisdiction, illegal and bad in-law because it just based on general information.
2. Whether the Ld. CIT(A) was justified by upholding the Ld. A.O's order passed in mechanical way on disposal of the objection which raised against the jurisdiction of Sec.147.
3. Whether the Ld.CIT(A) was justified in law and facts by upholding the Ld. A.O.'s order on, the addition of Rs.500000/- made u/s 68, the following observations;- i) because of non - production of the lender (ii) again non - filing of the details of the lender already on record (iii) just because the matter came from the Investigation Wing . (IV) Admittedly, there is no adverse report on the documents filed by the appellant & on record. That the appellant craves leave to amend, alter or to raise any other ground at the time of the hearing of the appeal.”
The main grievance of the assessee in this appeal relates to the jurisdiction u/s 147/148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) in reopening the assessment on the basis of information received from Director of Income Tax (Investigation-1), New Delhi.
3 & 5972/Del/2012 Noor Saleem Rana 5. Facts of the case in brief are that the assessee filed his return of income on 31.03.2003 declaring an income of Rs.1,59,850/-, besides agricultural income of Rs.1,18,400/-. The said return was processed u/s 143(1) of the Act. Later on, the case was selected for scrutiny, pursuant to the information received from Director of Income Tax (Investigation-1), New Delhi that the assessee had received accommodation entries. On the basis of said information, the AO issued the notice u/s 148 of the Act. In compliance to the said notice, the assessee had stated that the original return so filed may be treated as return of income in compliance to the notice u/s 148 of the Act. The AO framed the assessment u/s 147/144 of the Act and made the addition of Rs.5,00,000/-.
Against the said addition the assessee preferred an appeal before the ld. CIT(A) and also challenged the action of the AO in reopening the assessment. The ld. CIT(A) confirmed both the reopening of the assessment as well as the addition made by the AO.
Being aggrieved the assessee is in appeal. The ld. Counsel for the assessee submitted that the reopening u/s 147 of the Act was based on a general information received from Director of Income Tax (Investigation-1), New Delhi and the AO had not applied his own mind. Therefore, the reopening was not valid. The reliance was placed on the following case laws:
4 & 5972/Del/2012 Noor Saleem Rana � CIT Vs SFIL Stock Broking Ltd. 325 ITR 285 (Del.) � Pr. CIT-4 Vs G & G Pharma Ltd. 384 ITR 147 (Del.) 8. In his rival submissions the ld. DR strongly supported the orders of the authorities below.
We have considered the submissions of both the parties and perused the material available on the record. In the present case, the AO himself noted in para 2 of the assessment order dated 28.08.2012 as under: “Later on, the case was selected for scrutiny, pursuant to the information received from Director of Income Tax (Inv.)-1, New Delhi that the assessee has received accommodation entries. Accordingly, notice u/s 148 dated 14.12.2006 was issued by the then AO (Dy. CIT, Cir-2, MZR).”
From the above noting of the AO, it is crystal clear that the reopening by issuing notice u/s 148 of the Act dated 14.12.2006 was done by the AO only on the basis of the information received from the Director of Income Tax (Inv.)-1, New Delhi and the AO did not apply his independent mind to come to the conclusion that the income of the assessee has escaped assessment.
On a similar issue the Hon’ble Jurisdictional High Court in the case of Principal Commissioner of Income Tax- 4 Vs G & G Pharma Ltd. (supra) vide order dated 08.10.2015 (now reported at 384 ITR 147) held as under:
5 & 5972/Del/2012 Noor Saleem Rana “The basic requirement of law for reopening an assessment is application of mind by the Assessing Officer, to the materials produced prior to reopening the assessment, to conclude that he has reason to believe that income has escaped assessment. Unless that basic jurisdictional requirement is satisfied a post mortem exercise of analysing materials produced subsequent to the reopening will not make an inherently defective reassessment order valid.” It has further been held as under: “Without forming a prima facie opinion, on the basis of such material, it was not possible for him to have simply concluded that it was evident that the assessee company has introduced its own unaccounted money in its bank by way of accommodation entries. The basic jurisdictional requirement was application of mind by the Assessing Officer to the material produced before issuing the notice for reassessment. Without analysing and forming a prima facie opinion on the basis of material produced, it was not possible for the Assessing Officer to conclude that he had reason to believe that income had escaped assessment.”
In the present case also the AO simply acted upon the information received from the Investigation Wing and did not apply his own mind. Therefore, the reopening u/s 147 by issuing the notice u/s 148 of the Act only on the basis of information received from the Investigation Wing was not
In for the assessment year 2004-05, the facts are identical as were involved in the assessment year 2002-03 in . The only difference is that the addition made for this year was of Rs.2,50,000/- instead of Rs.5,00,000/- in the assessment year 2002-03. Therefore, our findings given in the former part of this order shall apply mutatis mutandis.
In the result, both the appeals of the assessee are allowed. (Order Pronounced in the Open Court on 26/04/2017)
More judgments on Section 147
- ACIT Central Bilaspur, Bilaspur vs Arun Kumar Agrawal, SaktiITSSA 26/RPR/2025[2018-19]Status: Disposed21 Oct 2026AY 2018-19
- Vinod Agrawal, Kawardha vs Assisstant Commissioner of Income Tax…ITA 666/RPR/2026[2019-20]Status: Heard21 Oct 2026AY 2019-20
- Sar Business Tradelink Private Limited… vs Income Tax Officer, Ward - 1(2), RaipurITA 599/RPR/2026[2014-15]Status: Heard21 Oct 2026AY 2014-15
- Tarunaben Maganlal Bhut, Navagam vs ITO Ward 2(2)(1), RajkotITA 673/RJT/2026[2024-25]Status: Disposed21 Oct 2026AY 2024-25
- Neo Incorporation, Rajkot vs DCIT Circle- 1(2), RajkotITA 471/RJT/2026[2012-2013]Status: Disposed21 Oct 2026AY 2012-2013
Recent GST High Court judgments
Search GST case law →- Sutlej Textiles And Industries Limited vs. Union Of INDIARajasthan · 26 Oct 2026
- M/S. Ut Corp vs. Union Of INDIARajasthan · 26 Oct 2026
- Sunrise Engineering vs. The State Of Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh · 26 Oct 2026
- M/S Kalra Traders vs. Union Of INDIAUttarakhand · 26 Oct 2026
- Ms Isoft vs. The Commissioner State TaxUttarakhand · 26 Oct 2026