Ajay Bhandari v. Union of India (Allahabad High Court)

By CA Nikhil Gupta · Judgment date: 2022-05-17 · Allahabad High Court

High CourtQuashed / set asidePUBLISH_READY

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Source status: Sanitized readable full judgment copy packaged; the exact issuing-court primary record remains pending. Open packaged judgment PDF. This indexed page retains explicit official-source and later-history disclosures for reliance checks.

Case in 2 minutes

Reassessment — Reopening of assessment — Reopening notice issued under unammended provisions — Reliefs sought in petition is to q uash impugned notice u/s 148 — Held, as per Clauses 6.2 and 7.1 of Board’s Circular dated 11.05.2022, if a case does not fall under Clause (b) of sub-Section (i) of Section 149 for Assessment Years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (where income of an assessee escaping assessment to tax is less than Rs.50,00,000/-) and notice has not been issued within limitation under unamended provisions of Section 149, then proceedings under amended provisions cannot be initiated — For all reasons…

Result: Quashed / set aside. The controlling text is the reasoning and operative order in the packaged judgment, not this editorial summary.

Case snapshot

Court / TribunalAllahabad High Court

Case numberWrit Tax No. 347 of 2022

Decision date2022-05-17

Assessment yearAY 2014-15

Coramus that the impugned notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter 2

OutcomeQuashed / set aside

Sections / provisions: 147; 144; 148; 149; 142(1)

Questions before the Court / Tribunal

Reassessment — Reopening of assessment — Reopening notice issued under unammended provisions — Reliefs sought in petition is to q uash impugned notice u/s 148 — Held, as per Clauses 6.2 and 7.1 of Board’s Circular dated 11.05.2022, if a case does not fall under Clause (b) of sub-Section (i) of Section 149 for Assessment Years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (where income of an assessee escaping assessment to tax is less than Rs.50,00,000/-) and notice has not been issued within limitation under unamended provisions of Section 149, then proceedings under amended provisions cannot be initiated — For all reasons…
What factual, statutory and procedural conditions control the relief?
How does the operative order apply to the parties and the challenged proceeding?

JUDGMENT-GROUNDED CASE RECORD

Material facts and procedural background

AFR Court No. - 03 Case :- WRIT TAX No. - 347 of 2022 Petitioner :- Ajay Bhandari Respondent :- Union Of India And 3 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Ankur Agarwal Counsel for Respondent :- A.S.G.I.,Anant Kumar Tiwari,Gaurav Mahajan

1. Heard Shri Ankur Agarwal, learned counsel for the petitioner, Shri S.P. Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General of India assisted by Shri Krishna Agarwal, learned Senior Standing Counsel for the respondent/Income Tax Department and Shri Anant Kumar Tiwari, learned Central Government Standing Counsel.

“(i) Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the impugned notice u/s 148 of the Act, dated 31.03.2021, received by the Petitioner on 01.04.2021, issued by Respondent-No.3, for A.Y. 2014-15. (Annexure No. 2) (ii) Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the notice u/s 144 of the Act, dated 13.01.2022, issued by Respondent No.4, for A.Y. 2014-15 to the Petitioner. (Annexure No. 4) (iii) Issues a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of prohibition restraining the respondents from completing the reassessment proceeding under 148 of the Act against the Petitioner. (iv) Issue any other writ order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the Circumstances of the case. (v) Award the costs of the petition to the petitioner. (vi) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order u/s 147 read with Section 144B of the Act against the petitioner dated 31.03.2022 passed by National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi Respondent No. 4 (Annexure No. 13)” 3. It has been admitted by the learned counsel for the parties before us that the impugned notice under Section 148 of the…

referred to as the 'Act, 1961') for the assessment year 2014-15 was issued by the respondent no. 3 to the petitioner on 1.4.2021. The "reasons to believe" recorded by the respondent no. 3 for issuing the impugned notice, is as under:

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner draws our attention to paragraphs 23

Appellant / assessee submissions

2. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, this writ petition is being finally heard without calling for a counter affidavit inasmuch as no disputed question of fact is involved in the writ petition. The reliefs sought in the writ petition are reproduced below:

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner draws our attention to paragraphs 23

Revenue / respondent submissions

7. We have carefully considered the submissions of the learned counsels for the parties and perused the record of the writ petition, the judgment of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Ashish Agarwal (supra) and Circular F.No 279/Misc./M-51/2022-ITJ, dated 11.05.2022 issued by the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Direct Taxes, ITJ Section, New Delhi. Section 147 of the Act, 1961 as it existed till 31.03.2021, empowers the Assessing Officer to assess or reassess or recompute the loss or depreciation allowance or any other allowance, as the case may be, for the concerned assessment year in the case of an assessee if he has reason to believe that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment, subject to the provisions of Sections 148 to 153. A pre-condition to initiate proceedings under Section 147 is the issuance of notice under Section 148. Thus, notice under Section 148 is jurisdictional notice. Section 149 provides time limit for issuance of notice under Section 148. The time limit is provided under the unamended provisions (existed till 31.03.2021) and the amended provisions (effective from 01.04.2021) as amended by the Finance Act, 2021.

Court / Tribunal analysis and reasoning

8. In the case of Ashish Agarwal (supra), Hon’ble Supreme Court held in Paras 23, 25 and 27, as under:-

Operative decision and relief

27. The present order shall be applicable PAN INDIA and all judgments and orders passed by different High Courts on the issue and under which similar notices which were issued after 01.04.2021 issued under section 148 of the Act are set aside and shall be governed by the present order and shall stand modified to the aforesaid extent. The present order is passed in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India so as to avoid any further appeals by the Revenue on the very issue by challenging similar judgments and orders, with a view not to burden this Court with approximately 9000 appeals. We also observe that present order shall also govern the pending writ petitions, pending before various High Courts in which similar notices under Section 148 of the Act issued after 01.04.2021 are under challenge.”

12. For all the reasons aforestated, the impugned notice under Section 148 of the Act, 1961 issued on 01.04.2021 for the Assessment Year 2014-15 and the impugned notice dated 13.01.2022 under Section 144 of the Act, 1961 and the reassessment order dated 13.01.2022 under Section 147 read with Section 144B of the Act, 1961 for the Assessment Year 2014-15 passed by the respondent No.4 are hereby quashed. The writ petition is allowed.

Official source and later-history control

Primary record: OFFICIAL_PRIMARY_SEARCH_PENDING

Later-history status: REVIEW_APPEAL_SLP_CHECK_PENDING

High Court review, intra-court appeal where applicable, and Supreme Court SLP/appeal history remain to be closed.

Release decision: Published with a sanitized local judgment copy and explicit source disclosure; official-primary retrieval and later-history surveillance remain open. Checked 2026-08-11; page is published as index,follow with these limitations disclosed.

FININ2MIN ANALYSIS

Ratio and legal principle

The packaged judgment addresses Reassessment — Reopening of assessment — Reopening notice issued under unammended provisions — Reliefs sought in petition is to q uash impugned notice u/s 148 — Held, as per Clauses 6.2 and 7.1 of Board’s Circular dated 11.05.2022, if a case does not fall under Clause (b) of sub-Section (i) of Section 149 for Assessment Years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (where income of an assessee escaping assessment to tax is less than Rs.50,00,000/-) and notice has not been issued within limitation under unamended provisions of Section 149, then proceedings under amended provisions cannot be initiated — For all reasons…. The precise proposition must be read with the Court/Tribunal's reasoning and operative directions.
Reliance depends on matching the statutory version, jurisdiction, procedural stage and material evidence recorded in the judgment.

Why this judgment matters

This decision is relevant to practitioners and affected parties dealing with reassessment — reopening of assessment — reopening notice issued under unammended provisions — reliefs sought in petition is to q uash impugned notice u/s 148 — held, as per clauses 6.2 and 7.1 of board’s circular dated 11.05.2022, if a case does not fall under clause (b) of sub-section (i) of section 149 for assessment years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (where income of an assessee escaping assessment to tax is less than rs.50,00,000/-) and notice has not been issued within limitation under unamended provisions of section 149, then proceedings under amended provisions cannot be initiated — for all reasons… Its value lies in showing how the adjudicating forum connected the applicable rule to the proved facts and procedural posture.

Practitioner action points

Match the statutory version, jurisdiction, procedural stage and decisive evidence before relying on the result.
Verify current appellate, review and SLP history and any later amendment or controlling authority.
Attach the complete judgment to the working paper or filing and cite the paragraph/page supporting the proposition.

Can I rely on this judgment?

Authority level	High Court
Source integrity	Sanitized readable full judgment copy packaged; issuing-court primary pending
Repository release	PUBLISH_READY
Reliance rule	Verify current history and cite the judgment's narrow proposition, not the editorial headnote.

Does this case match your facts?

Stronger match when

The same primary issue is raised.
The same statutory version and jurisdiction apply.
The procedural stage and burden of proof are comparable.
The material documentary record is substantially similar.

Weaker / distinguishable when

A later higher-court ruling changes the position.
The statutory provision or relevant period differs.
The evidence or procedural chronology is materially different.
A defect decisive here was cured in the user's case.

Questions this judgment answers

What was the main dispute in Ajay Bhandari v. Union of India (Allahabad High Court)?

Which facts matter most?

What did the Allahabad High Court decide?

What legal principle can be taken from the judgment?

The packaged judgment addresses Reassessment — Reopening of assessment — Reopening notice issued under unammended provisions — Reliefs sought in petition is to q uash impugned notice u/s 148 — Held, as per Clauses 6.2 and 7.1 of Board’s Circular dated 11.05.2022, if a case does not fall under Clause (b) of sub-Section (i) of Section 149 for Assessment Years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (where income of an assessee escaping assessment to tax is less than Rs.50,00,000/-) and notice has not been issued within limitation under unamended provisions of Section 149, then proceedings under amended provisions cannot be initiated — For all reasons…. The precise proposition must be read with the Court/Tribunal's reasoning and operative directions. Reliance depends on matching the statutory version, jurisdiction, procedural stage and material evidence recorded in the judgment.

Which provisions should be checked?

147, 144, 148, 149, 142(1)

When is the case most useful?

When the user's facts raise the same issue - Reassessment — Reopening of assessment — Reopening notice issued under unammended provisions — Reliefs sought in petition is to q uash impugned notice u/s 148 — Held, as per Clauses 6.2 and 7.1 of Board’s Circular dated 11.05.2022, if a case does not fall under Clause (b) of sub-Section (i) of Section 149 for Assessment Years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 (where income of an assessee escaping assessment to tax is less than Rs.50,00,000/-) and notice has not been issued within limitation under unamended provisions of Section 149, then proceedings under amended provisions cannot be initiated — For all reasons… - at a comparable procedural stage and under the same statutory version.

What could distinguish the case?

Different evidence, jurisdiction, statutory period, procedural chronology, or later controlling authority can materially change the result.

Can it be cited without another current-law check?

No. Read the packaged judgment and verify current appellate/review/SLP history, statutory amendments and jurisdiction before citation or advice.