MAHENDER KUMAR JAIN vs ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, CENTRAL CIRCLE 3, DELHI & ANR.

Judgment text excerpt

$~77 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Date of Decision: 14.01.2025 + W.P.(C) 312/2025 & CM APPL. 1489-90/2025 MAHENDER KUMAR JAIN .....Petitioner Through: Mr Deepanshu Jain and Mr Shaantanu Jain, Advocates. versus ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX, CENTRAL CIRCLE 3, DELHI & ANR. .....Respondents Through: Mr Sunil Aggarwal, SSC, Mr Shivansh B Pandya, Mr Viplav Acharya, JSCs and Mr Utkarsh Tiwari, Advocate for the Revenue. Mr Atul Kumar Pandey, Advocate for R2. CORAM: HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TUSHAR RAO GEDELA VIBHU BAKHRU, ACJ. (ORAL) 1. The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, impugning a notice dated 30.08.2024 (hereafter the impugned notice) issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereafter the Act) in respect of the assessment year (AY) 2015-16. The petitioner also challenges the constitutional validity of Explanation 2 to Section 148 of the Act. Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:GANGA W.P. (C) 312/2025 Page 1 of 11 SINGH RAWAT Signing Date:19.01.2025 11:09:22 2. Mr Jain, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has confined the present petition to assailing the impugned notice on the ground that it is barred by limitation. He submits that the controversy involved in the present petition is covered in favour of the petitioner by the earlier decision of this court in Dinesh Jindal v. Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Central Circle 20, Delhi & Others: Neutral Citation: 2024: DHC:4554-DB. 3. Undisputedly the initiation of the reassessment proceedings pursuant to the search carried out on or after 01.04.2021 necessarily requires to be initiated within the time frame as specified under Section 153A of the Act, which was in force at the material time. The reassessments covered u