Hon'ble Saumitra Dayal Singh, J.

Heard Sri Rakesh Ranjan Agarwal, learned Senior Advocate, assisted by Sri Suyash Agarwal, Sri Shambhu Chopra, learned Senior Advocate, assisted by Ms. Mahima Jaiswal, Sri Abhinav Mehrotra, Sri Akhilesh Kumar along with Sri Ashish Bansal, Sri Divyanshu Agarwal along with Sri Ankit Saran, Sri Deepak Kapoor along with Sri Shubham Agarwal, Sri V.K. Sabarwal and Shri R.B. Gupta along with Sri Rishi Raj Kapoor, Sri Shakeel Ahmad, Sri Parv Agarwal, Sri Salil Kapoor along with Sri Anuj Srivastava & Ms Soumya Singh alongwith Sri Satya Vrat Mehrotra, Sri Ankur Agarwal, Sri Krishna Deo Vyas, Sri Ashok Shankar Bhatnagar & Sri Harshul Bhatnagar, Sri Pranchal Agarwal, Sri V.K. Sabharwal, Sri R.B. Gupta, Ms. Shalini Goel and Ms. Rupal Agarwal, learned counsel for the petitioners; Sri Shashi Prakash Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General of India assisted by Sri Gopal Verma, Sri Dinesh Kumar Mishra, Sri Gaya Prasad Singh, Sri Sudarshan Singh, Sri Santosh Kumar Singh Paliwal, Sri Ajai Singh, Sri Gaurav Kumar Chand and Sri Krishna Agarwal, learned counsel appearing for the Union of India; Sri Gaurav Mahajan, Sri Praveen Kumar, Sri Krishna Agarwal, Sri Ashish Agarwal and Sri Manu Ghildyal, learned Standing Counsel for the revenue authorities.

2. This writ petition along with the other petitions mentioned in paragraph 4 below, have been filed by individual petitioners, to challenge initiation of re-assessment proceedings under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 for different assessment years. All reassessment proceedings have been initiated upon notices issued after the date 01.04.2021.

3. These petitions had been entertained and interim protection granted. Pursuant to earlier orders passed in the leading petitions - Writ Tax Nos. 524 of 2021 and 521 of 2021 and other matters, the revenue and the Union of India were required to file counter affidavits in those cases. Copies of such counter affidavits were, under a direction of this Court, served on all learned counsel for the petitioners. Replies by way of rejoinder affidavits have also been received in some of the cases. Those affidavits thus filed, have been read in all the writ petitions.

4. Since, the dispute arising in the present writ petitions is purely legal, with respect to the validity of the re-assessment proceedings initiated against the individual petitioners, after 01.04.2021, having resort to the provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act') as they existed, read with the provisions of Act No. 38 of 2020 and the notifications issued thereunder, the peculiar fact pleadings of each case are not material to the adjudication of the legal issues involved here. However, for the purposes of convenience, the basic relevant facts, obtaining in each individual case are recorded in the below given chart:

5. As to the exact challenge raised, it may be noted, the petitioners have challenged the validity of the re-assessment notices issued to them, under Section 148 of the Act. Another challenge has been raised to the validity of the Explanation appended to clause (A)(a) of CBDT Notification No. 20 of 2021, dated 31.03.2021 and Explanation to clause (A)(b) of CBDT Notification No. 38 of 2021, dated 27.04.2021. Those notifications have been issued under the powers vested under Section 3(1) of the Act 38 of 2020 namely, the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Enabling Act').

6. Before recording the individual submissions advanced by learned counsel for the parties, we may take note of the legislative provisions giving rise to the issues before us. Prior to enforcement of the Finance Act, 2021, the law for making re-assessment under the Act was governed by the provisions of Sections 147, 148, 149 read with Sections 150, 151, 152 and 153 of the Act. Under that law, the jurisdiction to reassess an assessee could arise upon necessary 'reason to believe' being recorded