INCOME TAX ACT, 1961

Section 153C

Search and seizure - Assessment under section 153C - Documents found and seized from premises of an accommodation entry provider pertained to assessee -

Assessee received a notice under section 153C and he filed return of income in response of the said notice. Thereafter, the assessee received a notice under section 142(1) along with a certified copy of reasons recorded in proceedings under section 153C. Assessee filed objections against the said satisfaction note which objections came to be disposed of by Revenue vide an order dated 10-10-2019. Assessee filed further objections which also came to be rejected by the Revenue vide an order dated 30-10-2019. Accordingly, the assessee filed a writ petition challenging the notice issued under section 153C, preliminary order rejecting the objections of the assessee and also the order passed again rejecting the objections raised by the assessee. Held: It is settled proposition of law that after objections of assessee against notice under section 153C are decided, the AO has to frame the assessment and if the assessment order goes against the assessee, he could avail or exhaust the remedy as may be available to him under the Act. Therefore, the instant petition filed at that juncture, would not deserve any further consideration. Further, it is also settled at the time of issuing notice under section 153C, the AO has to satisfy himself whether the books of account or documents or assets seized by the other AO in the proceedings under section 153A and handed over to him, had a bearing on the determination of the total income of the person to whom the notice under section 153C is issued. Such satisfaction would be in the realm of subjective satisfaction of the concerned AO and sufficiency or correctness of the documents or material handed over by the other AO to him also could not be gone into by the Courts at this stage. In instant case, in reasons recorded in support of the notice under section 142(1) read with section 153C, the Revenue narrated all the material received by him concerning the assessee for prima facie coming to the conclusion that the documents found and seized from premises of an accommodation entry provider pertained to the assessee and had bearing on the determination of the total income of the assessee and therefore, the case was required to be assessed under section 153C read with section 153A. Further, the objections raised by the assessee against the satisfaction note and also the further objections raised by the assessee were also duly considered by the revenue and were accordingly rejected vide detailed orders. Hence, the instant writ filed by the assessee was dismissed.

Distinguished:Raymond Woollen Mills Limited v. ITO & Ors. (1999) 236 ITR 34 (SC) : 1999 TaxPub(DT) 348 (SC).

REFERRED : CIT v. Vijaybhai N. Chandrani (2013) 357 ITR 713(SC) : 2013 TaxPub(DT) 2196 (SC), Jitendra Mansukhlal Adesara v. ACIT (2021) 126 Taxmann.com 150 (Guj-HC),