JUDGMENT

1. With the consent of the parties, the matter is heard at this stage.

2. The writ petition arising out of the impugned notice involves the same issue.

3. In the writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the notice issued by the Assessing Officer under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for reopening the assessment for various assessment years.

4. The notice was issued after 01.04.2021 and pertain to the relevant period which is prior to the said date.

5. The issue involved in the writ petition is no more res integra as the same has been decided by the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court while deciding a batch of petitions with the lead case of "Sudesh Tanesh v. Income Tax Officer in D.B. Civil Writ Petition No.969/2022". At the time of hearing of the identical petitions, this Court formulated the following two questions of law for consideration as under:

1. Whether after introduction of new provisions for reassessment of income by virtue of the Finance Act, 2021 with effect from 01.04.2021, substituting the then existing provisions, would the substituted provisions survive and could be used for issuing notices for reassessment for the past years?

2. Whether the explanations