[Cites 9, Cited by 0]

Gujarat High Court

Sunita Babubhai Prajapati vs The Income Tax Officer Ward - 3(2)(1) on 3 December, 2025

Author: A.S. Supehia

Bench: A.S. Supehia

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                             C/SCA/15600/2025                           ORDER DATED: 03/12/2025

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                                     IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

                                     R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 15600 of 2025

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                                          SUNITA BABUBHAI PRAJAPATI
                                                        Versus
                                     THE INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD - 3(2)(1)
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                      Appearance:
                      DARSHAN R PATEL(8486) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
                      AADITYA D BHATT(8580) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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                           CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
                                             and
                                 HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI

                      Date : 03/12/2025

                      ORAL ORDER

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA)

1. Heard learned advocate Mr. Darshan Patel for the petitioner

and learned Senior Standing Counsel Mr. Aaditya Bhatt for the

respondent.

2. This petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of

India challenging the notice under section 148 of the Income Tax Act,

1961 (For short "the Act") dated 29.08.2022 on the ground that the

notice would be invalid and time barred.

3. Brief facts of the case are that the respondent Assessing

Officer issued notice dated 30.06.2021 under section 148 of the Act

for the Assessment Year 2017-2018 during the extended time period

as per The Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain

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Provisions) Ordinance, 2020 [(2020) 422 ITR (St.) 116] (For short

"TOLA").

4. In view of the decision of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Union

of India and others v. Ashish Agarwal (2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC), the

aforesaid notice was to be treated as notice under section 148A(b) of

the Act which has come into statute with effect from 01.04.2021.

5. The Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Union of India & Ors., v.

Rajeev Bansal (2024) 469 ITR 46 (SC) has laid down the law to

consider such notice as valid notice or invalid notice depending upon

the surviving time left between the date of issuance of notice under

section 148 of the Act read with section 3(1) of TOLA upto

30.06.2021 and the issuance of notice under section 148 pursuant to

the directions issued by the Apex Court in case of Ashish Agarwal

(supra).

6. This Court in case of Dhanraj Govindram Kella v. Income Tax

Officer, Ward(2), Surendranagar (Judgment dated 08.07.2025

rendered in Special Civil Application No.6387 of 2023 and allied

matters) has considered in detail the submissions made by both the

sides and has held as under:

"65. The alternative contention of the petitioner as to whether notices would be valid notice or invalid notice considering 'surviving time' between the date of the

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issuance of notices under TOLA and 30th June, 2021 or not is required to be considered and for that each matter has to be considered separately on the basis of the facts of case considering the date of issuance of notices under section 148 under TOLA by the Revenue and thereafter date of supplying information to the assessee and date of passing of order under section 148A(d) and date of issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act so as to consider whether issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act is within 'surviving time' as per the direction of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra) or not.

66. So far as Assessment Years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 are concerned, the period of three years from the end of the assessment year would be over prior to 20.03.2020 and the period of six years would be over between 20.03.2020 and 30.06.2021. Therefore, the notices issued under section 148 of the Act under old regime between 01.04.2021 and 30.06.2021 as per TOLA, will be a valid notice if the notice under section 148 of the Act under new regime is issued within the period of 'surviving time' as per the directions issued by Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra). For the Assessment Years 2016-2017 and 2017-

2018 are concerned, the notice issued under section 148 of the Act under old regime between 01.04.2021 and 30.06.2021 under TOLA would be considered to be issued within three years from the end of the relevant assessment year as three years would complete within the period of 20.03.2020 and 30.06.2021.

67. Therefore, in facts of these petitions, following data is required to be considered to find out 'surviving time' to decide as to whether the impugned notices under section 148 of the Act issued under the new regime as per the decision of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Ashish Agarwal (supra) would be valid notice or not in view of the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra):

SCA NO AY Date of notice under No of days of Date of section 148 under surviving time providing TOLA available till information 30.06.2021 under section 148A(b) 6387/2023 2013-2014 17.06.2021 13 26.05.2022 5688/2023 2014-2015 09.06.2021 21 23.05.2022 22260/2022 2016-2017 30.06.2021 1 23.05.2022 996/2023 2017-2018 30.06.2021 1 24.05.2022

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SCA NO Due date of Date of Date of order Last date for issuance of notice filing reply reply:- under section under section 148 as per 148A(d) and surviving time:-

                                                                              notice     under
                                                                              section 148:-
                                 6387/2023      09.06.2022    04.06.2022      29.07.2022       22.06.2022
                                 5688/2023      06.06.2022    -               27.07.2022       27.06.2022
                                 22260/2022     07.06.2022    06.07.2022      30.07.2022       14.06.2022
                                 996/2023       11.06.2022    10.06.2022      19.07.2022       18.06.2022

68. It is apparent from the above details that impugned notice under section 148 of the Act is issued beyond the period of 'surviving time' as per the direction of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra)and therefore, such notices would be invalid notices.

69.The impugned notices issued under section 148 of the Act are accordingly quashed and set aside being invalid having been issued beyond the 'surviving time'.

Accordingly, impugned orders passed under section 148A(d) of the Act would also not survive and are accordingly, quashed and set aside. Subsequent proceedings, if any, undertaken by the respondent would not survive and are also quashed and set aside.

70. Rule is made absolute to the aforesaid extent. No order as to costs."

7. In the facts of the case, the respondent Assessing Officer has

provided information pursuant to the directions issued by the

Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Ashish Agarwal (supra) on 22.05.2022

and therefore, considering 15 days' time to file reply by the assessee,

the due date would be 06.06.2022. The petitioner filed reply on

11.06.2022. The order under section 148A(d) of the Act as well as

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notice under section 148 of the Act was issued on 29.08.2022.

However, considering the period of limitation from the date of

issuance of notice under section 148 read with TOLA upto

30.06.2021, the limitation for issuance of notice under section 148 of

the Act applying the decision of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of

Ashish Agarwal (supra) as well as Rajeev Bansal (supra), would

be 01.08.2022.

8. Learned Senior Standing Counsel Mr. Aaditya Bhatt for the

respondent has verified the above dates and could not controvert the

same.

9. In view of above, the impugned notice dated 29.08.2022 issued

under section 148 of the Act would be invalid notice as the said

notice is issued after 01.08.2022 as per the decision of Apex Court in

case of Ashish Agarwal (supra). Therefore, the impugned notice

having been issued beyond the 'surviving time' would be invalid

notice as held by the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev Bansal

(supra) in the following paragraph no. 114 (g) and (h) of the

judgment:

"114. In view of the above discussion, we conclude that:

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(g) The time during which the show-cause notices were deemed to be stayed is from the date of issuance of the deemed notice between April 1, 2021 and June 30, 2021

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till the supply of relevant information and material by the Assessing Officers to the assessees in terms of the directions issued by this court in Union of India v.

Ashish Agarwal [(2022) 444 ITR 1 (SC); (2023) 1 SCC

617.] , and the period of two weeks allowed to the assessees to respond to the show-cause notices; and

(h) The Assessing Officers were required to issue the reassessment notice under section 148 of the new regime within the time limit surviving under the Income- tax Act read with the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020. All notices issued beyond the surviving period are time barred and liable to be set aside."

10. In view of foregoing reasons, impugned notice dated

29.08.2022 is hereby quashed and set aside and all consequential

proceedings are also quashed and set aside. Rule is made absolute to

the aforesaid extent.

(A. S. SUPEHIA, J)

(PRANAV TRIVEDI,J) phalguni/3