IN THE GUJARAT HIGH COURT

SONIA GOKANI, C.J. & SANDEEP N. BHATT, J.

Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd. v. Asstt. CIT

R/Special Civil Application No. 347 of 2022

20 February, 2023

Petitioner(s) No. 1 by: B.S. Soparkar

Respondent(s) No. 1 by: Maithili D. Mehta

Sonia Gokani, C.J.

1. By way of the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the challenge is to notice issued by the respondent under section 148 of the Income Tax Act ('Income Tax Act' hereinafter), dated 21-3-2021 directing the petitioner to furnish the return of income for the assessment year 2017-18 on the ground that the same is contrary to law and without jurisdiction.

1.1 The order disposing of the objections passed by the respondent, dated 25-10-2021 also has been challenged.

2. The petitioner is a limited company which has filed its return of income for assessment year 2017-18 declaring total loss on 28-11-2017 under normal provisions and the book-loss as well.

2.1 The tax return of the petitioner was processed and his case was selected for scrutiny under CASS. The detailed scrutiny was undertaken and the assessment order under section 143(3) was passed on 21-12-2019 accepting the returned total loss of the petitioner for assessment year 2017-18 without making any addition or disallowance of any expenses. The respondent issued notice under section 148 asking the petitioner to file return of income for assessment year 2017-18. The petitioner, without prejudice, filed the return of income in compliance with the notice and sought for the reasons recorded for reopening and approval obtained under section 151 of the Act.

2.2 The petitioner had been provided with the copy of the reasons and approval on 17-5-2021. In response to the same, the objections were raised on 16-8-2021 challenging the validity of the notice. The respondent disposed of the objections on 25-10-2021.