Loading judgment…
No AI summary yet for this case.
Detected automatically from the text. The count shows how many other judgments on BharatTax rely on the same authority.
Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCH: ‘B’ NEW DELHI
Before: SHRI SATBEER SINGH GODARA & SHRI MANISH AGARWAL
ORDER PER SATBEER SINGH GODARA, JM These assessee’s twin appeals & 487/Del/2025 for assessment years 2017-18 and 2018-19 arises against the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-25 [in short, the “CIT(A)”], New Delhi’s orders, both dated 05.11.2024, passed in case nos. 10417/2016-17 and 10217/2017-18, involving proceedings under section 153C and 143(3) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’), respectively.
It emerges during the course of hearing that there is hardly much a need for us to delve with the relevant factual matrix at length. This is for the precise reason that the tribunal’s earlier coordinate bench’s decision in the assessee’s own appeal decided on 30th September, 2025 (AY: 2016-17) has already settled the issue that the lower authorities’ satisfaction recorded under section 153C of the Act is non-est in the eyes of law, as under: “2. It transpires during the course of hearing that at the outset the assessee has raised legal ground that the impugned twin section 153C assessments herein are not sustainable in law for want of a valid satisfaction recorded by the learned departmental authorities on 23rd September, 2019, reading as follows:
3. This being the clinching factual position, learned CIT(DR) could hardly dispute that the above extracted section 153C satisfaction has nowhere made it clear as to which specific seized material found during the course of search either belonged or pertained or related to the assessee thereby having a bearing on its income of the relevant 2 | P a g e previous year so as to satisfy the rigor of section 153C(1)(a) to (b) of the Act. Various judicial precedents i.e PCIT Vs. Dev Technofab Ltd. (2025) 170 taxmann.com 664 (SC) and PCIT Vs. Ojjus Medicare (P) Ltd., (2024) 465 ITR 101 (Del) and CIT Vs. Jasjit Singh (2024) 465 ITR 101 (SC) have already settled the issue that a valid satisfaction forms sine qua non for initiation of section 153C proceedings culminating in the impugned assessments as is the assessee’s arguments before us.
Faced with this situation, we are of the considered view that both the learned lower authorities have erred in law and on facts in proceeding against the assessee under section 153C of the Act without recording a valid satisfaction. The Revenue’s vehement contentions supporting the same stand rejected therefore. Both these impugned assessments for assessment years 2016-17 and 2017-18 are hereby quashed in very terms.
These assessee’s twin appeals & 562/Del/2025 are allowed.”
That being the case, we adopt the foregoing detailed decision mutatis mutandis to annul the impugned section 153C twin assessments in question herein as non-est in the eyes of law in very terms. The Revenue’s vehement contention supporting the same are hereby rejected therefore.