Vikaskumar Shah vs Income Tax Officer , Ward 2(3)(4), Surat
2025 Latest Caselaw 7469 Guj

Gujarat High Court

Vikaskumar Shah vs Income Tax Officer , Ward 2(3)(4), Surat on 14 October, 2025

Author: Bhargav D. Karia

Bench: Bhargav D. Karia

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                               C/SCA/5532/2023                                      ORDER DATED: 14/10/2025

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                                      IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

                                        R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 5532 of 2023

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                                                     VIKASKUMAR SHAH
                                                           Versus
                                           INCOME TAX OFFICER , WARD 2(3)(4), SURAT
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                        Appearance:
                        MR SUDHIR M MEHTA(2058) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
                        MS SHAILEE S MEHTA(5873) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
                        KARAN G SANGHANI(7945) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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                           CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA
                                 and
                                 HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI

                                                           Date : 14/10/2025
                                                            ORAL ORDER

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA)

1. Heard learned advocate Mr. Sudhir Mehta

for the petitioner and learned Senior

Standing Counsel Mr. Karan Sanghani 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

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31.07.2022 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 28.06.2021 under section 148 of the

Act for the Assessment Year 2016-2017

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.

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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 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:

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"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 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

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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 No of days Date of notice under of surviving providing section 148 time information

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under TOLA available under till section 30.06.2021 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

SCA NO Due date Date of Date of Last date for issuance of filing reply:- order of notice under reply under section 148 as per section 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

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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 21.05.2022 and

therefore, considering 15 Days' time to

file reply by the assessee, the due date

would be 04.06.2022. The petitioner has

not filed reply. The order under section

148A(d) of the Act as well as notice under

section 148 of the Act was issued on

31.07.2022. However, considering the

period of limitation from the date of

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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 11.06.2022.

8. Learned Senior Standing Counsel Ms.

Maithili D. Mehta has verified the above

dates and could not controvert the same.

9. In view of above, the impugned notice

dated 31.07.2022 issued under section 148

of the Act would be invalid notice as the

said notice is issued after 11.06.2022 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

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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 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."

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10. In view of foregoing reasons, impugned

notice dated 31.07.2022 is hereby quashed

and set aside and all consequential

proceedings are also quashed and set

aside.

(BHARGAV D. KARIA, J)

(PRANAV TRIVEDI,J) JYOTI V. JANI