TOWNPARK BUILDCON PVT LTD vs ACIT, CC 15 AND ORS

Judgment text excerpt

$~2 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 28.04.2025 + W.P.(C) 4478/2025 & CM Nos.20725/2025 & 20726/2025 TOWNPARK BUILDCON PVT LTD .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Samyak Jain, Adv. Versus ACIT, CC 15 AND ORS .....Respondents Through: Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Ms. Monica Benjamin & Ms. Easha Kadian, Advs. CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRU HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TEJAS KARIA VIBHU BAKHRU, J. (Oral) 1. The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, impugning the notice dated 29.08.2024 [the impugned notice] issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [the Act] seeking to reopen the assessment in respect of Assessment Year [AY] 2015-16. 2. The petitioner’s case is that the impugned notice has been issued beyond the period of the limitation. 3. In the present case, the petitioner had filed its return of income for the AY 2015-16 on 25.09.2025 declaring the income of ₹89,72,493/-. On 02.03.2022, a search was conducted under Section 132 of the Act at the premises of persons belonging to the Gaur Group. Based on the certain material found during the said search, the Assessing Officer [AO] issued the impugned notice on 29.08.2024. W.P.(C) 4478/2025 Page 1 of 6 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:TARUN RANA Signing Date:02.05.2025 16:59:20 4. Although the provisions of Section 153C of the Act are inapplicable in respect of searches conducted after 31.03.2021, it is relevant to consider whether a notice under Section 153C of the Act could be issued for the relevant AY 2015-16 for the purposes of determining whether a notice under Section 148 of the Act could be issued in view of the proviso to Section 149(1) of the Act. 5. Since there is no mandatory requirement for an assessing officer of a searched person to record his satisfaction tha