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Facts
Incriminating documents were found during a search in the name of Shri Adarsh Mohan. The assessee, Smt. Isha Gupta (legal heir of Shri Adarsh Mohan), was issued proceedings u/s 153C of the Income Tax Act. The assessment years in question are 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Held
The Tribunal held that the six-year period for issuing notice u/s 153C must be calculated from the date of handing over the material. Since the satisfaction note was dated 18.04.2022, the AO could only have issued notices for AY 2018-19 onwards. Therefore, the present assessment years fall beyond the six-year block.
Key Issues
Whether the assessment proceedings under Section 153C of the Income Tax Act, 1961, were vitiated due to the expiry of the limitation period.
Sections Cited
144, 153C, 143(3)
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, DELHI BENCHES: A : NEW DELHI
Before: SHRI S. RIFAUR RAHMAN & SHRI ANUBHAV SHARMA
ORDER PER ANUBHAV SHARMA, JM: These are appeals preferred by the assessee against the orders dated 22.01.2025 and 12.06.2025 of the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals)-29, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the ld. First Appellate Authority or ‘the Ld. FAA’ for short) in Appeals No..CIT(A), Delhi-29, 10187/2012-13 and CIT(A), Delhi-29, 10507/2013-14 arising out of the appeals before it against the orders dated 07.02.2023 u/s 144 r.w.s. 153C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred as ‘the Act’) DCIT, Central Circle-28, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the Ld. AO).
ITAs No.1764 & 4319/Del/2025
On hearing both the sides, we find that the assessee’s return was originally filed on 29.07.2013. Subsequently, during search and seizure operations in the case of Shri Manoj Kumar Singh and Associates on 14.10.2020, alleged incriminating documents were found from the premises in the name of Shri Adarsh Mohan and seized. Shri Adarsh Mohan died in the financial year 2015-16 and, accordingly, after investigations, it was found that Smt. Isha Gupta, wife of Shri Adarsh Mohan is the legal heir. The proceedings u/s 153C of the Act were initiated on 20.05.2022. The assessee’s return filed u/s 153C of the Act was found to be invalid and was not taken on record and best judgement assessment was framed u/s 153C r.w.s. 144 of the Act.
At outset, the ld. AR has argued that the whole assessment is vitiated as, in the case of the assessee, six year period u/s 153C of the Act has to be considered from the date of handing over of the material by the AO of the searched person to the jurisdictional AO of the assessee and reliance in this regard is placed on the decisions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of CIT vs. Jasjit Singh [2023 SCC Online 1265], ITO vs. Vikram Sujitkumar Bhatia & Ors [2023 SCC Online SC 370] and the decision of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court in PCIT-1 vs. Ojjus Medicare Pvt. Ltd. [2024 SCC OnLine Del 2439].
ITAs No.1764 & 4319/Del/2025
In the case in hand, the copy of satisfaction note was provided at the time of hearing as Annexure-A to the synopsis. The same is dated 18.04.2022. That can be considered to be the date of handing over of the record which means that point of origin of six years has to be calculated from the financial year 2022-23, i.e., assessment year 2023-24 onwards. Thus, the AO could have issued notice u/s 153C of the Act for AY 2018-19 onwards for AY 2023-24. The present assessment years 2013-14 and 2014-15 fall beyond the block of six years.