Gujarat High Court
Nikhil Jain S/O Susheel Chand Jain vs Income Tax Officer , Ward 2(3)(6), Surat on 25 November, 2025
Author: A.S. Supehia
Bench: A.S. Supehia
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/SCA/15345/2024 ORDER DATED: 25/11/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 15345 of 2024
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NIKHIL JAIN S/O SUSHEEL CHAND JAIN
Versus
INCOME TAX OFFICER , WARD 2(3)(6), SURAT
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Appearance:
MR DHRUV R THAKKAR(11280) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
RAHUL S SHAH(9701) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
KARAN G SANGHANI(7945) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI
Date : 25/11/2025
ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA)
1. Heard learned advocate Mr. Dhruv Thakkar for the
petitioner and learned Senior Standing Counsel Mr. Karan
Sanghani for the respondent.
2. RULE returnable forthwith. Learned Senior Standing
Counsel Mr. Karan Sanghani waives service of notice of Rule
on behalf of the respondent.
3. 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 27.07.2022
on the ground that the notice would be invalid and time
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C/SCA/15345/2024 ORDER DATED: 25/11/2025
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barred. The petitioner has also challenged the assessment
order dated 19.05.2023 passed under Section 147 read with
Section 144 read with Section 144B of the Act.
3. Brief facts of the case are that the respondent Assessing
Officer issued notice dated 25.05.2021 under section 148 of
the Act for the Assessment Year 2013-2014 during the
extended time period as per Taxation and Other Laws
(Relaxation of Certain 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 reported in
(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 v.
Rajeev Bansal reported in (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
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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 Hon'ble 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
issuance of notices under TOLA and 30 th 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
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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 No of days of Date of
under section surviving time providing
148 under available till information
TOLA 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 Last date for issuance of
filing reply reply:- order under notice under section 148
section as per surviving time:-
148A(d)
and 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 27.05.2022 and therefore,
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considering 15 days' time to file reply by the assessee,
the due date would be 13.06.2022. The petitioner did not
file any reply. The order under section 148A(d) of the Act
as well as notice under section 148 of the Act was issued
on 27.07.2022. 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 20.07.2022.
8. Learned Senior Standing Counsel Mr. Karan Sanghani
has verified the above dates and could not controvert the
same.
9. In view of above, the impugned notice dated 27.07.2022
issued under section 148 of the Act would be invalid
notice as the said notice is issued after 20.07.2022 as
per the decision of Hon'ble 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
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C/SCA/15345/2024 ORDER DATED: 25/11/2025
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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 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
27.07.2022 is hereby quashed and set aside and all
consequential proceedings are also quashed and set aside.
Rule is made absolute.
(A. S. SUPEHIA, J)
(PRANAV TRIVEDI,J)
SAJ GEORGE
