Point of Law : Implementation/ clarified by Instruction issued by Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of powers under Section 119 of Act, 1961.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard Shri Ankur Agarwal, learned counsel for the petitioner, Shri S.P. Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General of India assisted by Shri Krishna Agarwal, learned Senior Standing Counsel for the respondent/Income Tax Department and Shri Anant Kumar Tiwari, learned Central Government Standing Counsel.

2. With the consent of the learned counsel for the parties, this writ petition is being finally heard without calling for a counter affidavit inasmuch as no disputed question of fact is involved in the writ petition. The reliefs sought in the writ petition are reproduced below :

"(i) Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the impugned notice u/s 148 of the Act, dated 31.03.2021, received by the Petitioner on 01.04.2021, issued by Respondent-No.3, for A.Y. 2014-15. (Annexure No. 2)

(ii) Issue a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of Certiorari quashing the notice u/s 144 of the Act, dated 13.01.2022, issued by Respondent No.4, for A.Y. 2014-15 to the Petitioner. (Annexure No. 4)

(iii) Issues a Writ, Order or Direction in the nature of prohibition restraining the respondents from completing the reassessment proceeding under 148 of the Act against the Petitioner.

(iv) Issue any other writ order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the Circumstances of the case.

(v) Award the costs of the petition to the petitioner.

(vi) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order u/s 147 read with Section 144B of the Act against the petitioner dated 31.03.2022 passed by National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi Respondent No. 4 (Annexure No. 13)"

3. It has been admitted by the learned counsel for the parties before us that the impugned notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act, 1961') for the assessment year 2014-15 was issued by the respondent no. 3 to the petitioner on 1.4.2021. The "reasons to believe" recorded by the respondent no. 3 for issuing the impugned notice, is as under :

"I have reason to believe that an income to the tune of Rs.2,63,324/- has escaped assessment for the aforesaid year".

4. The re-assessment order dated 31.3.2022 has been passed by the respondent no. 4 i.e. National Faceless Assessment Centre, Delhi under Section 147 read with 144B of the Act, 1961.

5. Shri S.P. Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General of India has placed before us a copy of the two Judges Bench judgement of Hon'ble Supreme Court under Article 142 of the Constitution of India in Civil Appeal No. 3005 of 2022 (Union of India and others Vs. Ashish Agarwal) decided on 4.5.2022 and reported in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 543 and submits that the notices issued after 1.4.2021 under Section 148 of the Act, 1961 are liable to be treated as notices under Section 148A of the Act, 1961 as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021. He draws out attention to paragraph 27 of the aforesaid judgement. He placed before us copy of Instruction being F.No 279/Misc./M-51/2022-ITJ, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Direct Taxes, ITJ Section dated 11.5.2022, invited our attention to paragraph 7.1 of the aforesaid Instruction and stated that the notices under Section 148 relating to assessment years 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 shall not attract the judgement of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Ashish Agarwal (supra). Lastly, Shri S.P. Singh submits that since the notice has been issued on 1.4.2021 for the assessment year 2014-15, therefore, it shall be covered by a Division Bench's judgement of this Court in the case of Daujee Abhushan Bhandar Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Union of India and 2 others (Writ Tax No. 78 of 2022) decided on 10.3.2022.

6. Learned counsel for the petitioner draws our attention to paragraphs 23 and 25 of the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Ashish Agarwal (supra) a