Gujarat High Court

Bharat Ugarchand Gadhecha vs Dy. Cit, Central Circle 1(1) on 24 November, 2025

Author: A.S. Supehia

Bench: A.S. Supehia

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                            C/SCA/1578/2023                                           ORDER DATED: 24/11/2025

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                               IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

                               R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 1578 of 2023

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                                              BHARAT UGARCHAND GADHECHA
                                                           Versus
                                               DY. CIT, CENTRAL CIRCLE 1(1)
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                      Appearance:
                      MR TEJ SHAH(5743) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
                      MR.VARUN K.PATEL(3802) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
                      =============================================

                        CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
                              and
                              HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI

                                                       Date : 24/11/2025

                                           ORAL ORDER

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

1. Heard learned advocate Mr. Tej Shah

for the petitioner and learned Senior

Standing Counsel Mr. Varun K. Patel for

the respondents.

2. The petitioner has challenged notices

issued under section 148 of the Income Tax

Act, 1961 (for short "the Act") for the

Assessment Year 2015-2016 under the old

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regime in view of TOLA without issuing

notice under section 148A(b) as required

to be issued with effect from 01.04.2021.

3. Notice under section 148 under Taxation

and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain

ITR (St.) 116] (For short "TOLA") was

issued on 28.04.2021 whereas notice under

section 148A(b) of the Act after judgment

in case of Union of India and others v.

Ashish Agarwal reported in (2022) 444 ITR

1 (SC) was issued on 01.06.2022.

4. The respondent Assessing Officer has

issued notice under section 148 of the Act

after 31.03.2021 on the pretext that due

to operation of TOLA, time limit for

issuance of notice would be extended upto

30.06.2021.

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5. Thereafter, considering the decision

of Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Ashish

Agarwal (supra), notice issued under

section 148 between 01.04.2021 and

30.06.2021 for Assessment Year 2015-2016

was deemed to be notice under section

148A(b) of the Act which has come into

operation with effect from 01.04.2021 and

thereafter as per the direction issued by

the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Ashish

Agarwal(supra) department has issued the

notices under section 148 of the Act

between the month of July,2022 and August,

2022 after following the procedure of

inviting reply and passing order under

section 148A(d) of the Act.

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6. The petitioners challenged such

notices issued by the respondent Assessing

Officer for Assessment Year 2015-2016

pursuant to the order of Hon'ble Apex

Court in case of Ashish Agarwal(supra).

7. During the pendency of these

petitions, similar notices which were

issued for Assessment Years 2013-2014 to

2017-2018 came up for consideration on the

ground of delay as well as on the ground

of getting valid sanction before this

Court and other High Courts. This Court in

case of Keenara Industries (P.) Ltd vs.

ITO reported in [2023] 147 taxamann.com

585 (Guj) allowed such petitions.

8. The matter was carried to Hon'ble

Supreme Court. Hon'ble Supreme Court in

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case of Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal

reported in (2024) 469 ITR 46 (SC) decided

the issues raised with regard to delay as

per the provisions of section 149 of the

Act which has come into operation after

01.04.2021 as well as validity of sanction

granted under section 155 of the Act.

9. During the course of hearing before

the Hon'ble Apex Court, Revenue conceded

to the effect that so far as Assessment

Year 2015-2016 is concerned, Revenue could

not have issued the notices under section

3(1) of TOLA as considering the time

period as prescribed under section 149 of

the Act with effect from 01.04.2021, three

years would be over on 31.03.2019 which is

prior to coming into force of TOLA and six

years would be completed on 31.03.2022

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which is after operation of TOLA. In such

circumstances, notices for Assessment Year

2015-2016 are held to be invalid by

Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Rajeev

Bansal(supra).

10. The Hon'ble Apex Court followed the

decision of Rajeev Bansal(supra) in case

of Deepak Steel and Power Ltd vs. Central

Board of Direct Taxes reported in [2025]

174 taxmann.com 144 (SC) and after

recording the concession of the learned

advocate for the department and in view of

the concession given before the Apex Court

by learned advocate appearing for the

Revenue as recorded in para 19(f) of the

judgment in case of Rajeev Bansal (supra),

has quashed and set aside the notice

issued after 31.03.2021 under TOLA for

A.Y. 2015-16 as under:

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"1. Leave granted.

2. These appeals arise from the order passed by the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack in Writ Petition (C) Nos. 2446 of 2023, 2543 of 2023 dated 1.2.2023 and 2544 of 2023 dated 10.02.2023 respectively by which the High Court disposed of the original writ petitions in the following terms:-

"1. The memo of appearance filed by Mr. S. S. Mohapatra, learned Senior Standing Counsel for Revenue Department on behalf of Opposite Parties is taken on record.

2. In view of the order passed by this Court on 1st December, 2022 in a batch of writ petitions of which W.P.(C) No.9191 of 2022 (Kailash Kedia v. Income Tax Officer) was a lead matter and the subsequent order dated 10th January, 2023 passed in W.P.(C) No.36314 of 2022 (Shiv Mettalicks Pvt. Ltd., Rourkela v. Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Sambalpur), the Court declines to entertain the present writ petition, but leaves it open to the Petitioner to raise all grounds available to the Petitioner in accordance with law including the grounds urged in the present petition at the appropriate stage as explained by the Court in those orders.

3. The writ petition is disposed of

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in the above terms."

3. We heard Mr. Saswat Kumar Acharya, the learned counsel appearing for the appellants(assessee) and Mr. Chandrashekhar, the learned counsel appearing for the revenue.

4. The learned counsel appearing for the revenue with his usual fairness invited the attention of this Court to a three judge bench decision of this Court in Union of India and Ors. v. Rajeev Bansal, reported in 2024 SCC OnLine SC 2693, more particularly, paragraph 19(f) which reads thus:-

"19. (f) The Revenue concedes that for the assessment year 2015- 2016, all notices issued on or after April 1, 2021 will have to be dropped as they will not fall for completion during the period prescribed under the Taxation and other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020."

5. As the revenue made a concession in the aforesaid decision that is for the assessment year 2015-2016, all notices issued on or after 1st April, 2021 will have to be dropped as they would not fall for completion during the period prescribed under the taxation and other laws (Relaxation and Amendment of certain Provisions Act, 2020). Nothing further is required to be adjudicated in this matter as the notices so far as the present

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litigation is concerned is dated 25.6.2021.

6. In view of the aforesaid, in such circumstances referred to above the original writ petition nos.2446 of 2023, 2543 of 2023 and 2544 of 2023 respectively filed before the High Court of Orissa at Cuttack stands allowed.

7. The impugned notice therein stands quashed and set aside.

8. The relief in terms of prayer (a) is granted.

9. The appeals stand disposed of in the above terms.

10. Pending application(s), if any, stand disposed of."

11. Similar orders are also passed by the

Apex Court in the following cases:

1) Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax,

Circle 19(1) and ors vs. Nehal Ashit Shah

in Special Leave Petition (Civil) Diary

No. 57209/2024;

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2) The Income Tax Officer Ward 1(2)

Jaipur vs. R.K.Build Creations Private

Limited in Special Leave Petition (Civil)

Diary No. 59625/2024.

12. The Delhi High Court has also passed

the similar order in following cases:

1) Bhagwan Sahai Sharma vs. Deputy

Commissioner of Income Tax reported in

[2025] 174 taxmann.com 14 (Delhi)

2) Lalit Gulati vs. Assistant

Commissioner of Income Tax reported in

[2025] 174 taxmann.com 273 (Delhi);

13. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has

taken similar decision in case of Jay Jay

Agro Industries vs. Income Tax Officer,

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Ward-I, Karnal & Anr in CWP 7405/2025

14. Rajasthan High Court has also taken

similar decision in case of Shreyansh

Mehta S/o Shri Shanti Lal Mehta, vs.

Income Tax Officer, Udaipur in Civil Writ

Petition No. 3299/2023.

15. Karnataka High Court has also taken

similar decision in case of Shri Siddaiah

Gurappaji vs. The Assistant Commissioner

of Income Tax and ors in Writ Petition No.

20292 of 2023.

16. This Court also in case of Mayurkumar

Babubhai Patel v. Assistant Commissioner

of Income Tax, Circle 3(1)(1), Ahmedabad

and another (order dated 17.06.2025

rendered in Special Civil Application

No.3154 of 2022 and allied matters) has

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held as under:

"15. Considering the facts of the case, it is not in dispute that the respondent-Assessing Officer has issued the notice under section 148A(b) of the Act after the period of six years were over on 31.03.2022. As observed by the Hon'ble Apex Court in case of Deepak Steel and Power Ltd(Supra) and in view of the concession made by the Revenue before the Apex Court for the Assessment Year 2015-16, all the notices issued on or after 01.04.2021 will have to be dropped as they would not fall for completion during the period prescribed under the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 and therefore, nothing further is required to be adjudicated in the matters as the notice so far as the present petitions are concerned, though dated 31.03.2021, admittedly have been issued after 01.04.2021.

16. It is also not in dispute that the notices under section 148A(b) have been issued pursuant to the decision of the Hon'ble Apex Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra) dated 04.05.2022 admittedly after 31.03.2022. Therefore, on both counts, the notices issued under section 148 of the Act dated 27/28/29.07.2022 would be time barred."

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17. In view of above, for the foregoing

reasons, the petition is allowed. The

impugned notice issued under section 148

of the Act for Assessment Year 2015-2016

is held to be invalid as same was issued

during the extended period from 01.04.2021

to 30.06.2021 under TOLA.

18. Petition is accordingly disposed off.

Sd/-