A reassessment notice issued under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, beyond the statutory time limit, read with the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act (TOLA), is invalid and renders the entire assessment proceedings liable to be quashed for lack of jurisdiction.

ORDER

Per George Mathan, JM:

1. This is an appeal filed by the assessee against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), NFAC, Delhi [hereinafter referred to as the ‘CIT(A)’] in appeal no.NFAC/2012-13/10259552 dated 19.12.2025 for the assessment year 2013-14.

2. Shri Miraj D. Shah, Advocate, represented on behalf of the assessee and Shri S.B. Chakraborty Sr. DR represented on behalf of the revenue.

3. At the outset, it was submitted by the ld. AR that the notice u/s 148 was issued on 28.07.2022 and the order u/s 148A(d) of the Act has been passed on 28.07.2022 for the assessment year 2013-14 which is beyond the TOLA period. It was the submissions that as per the decision of Apex Court, notice under the old regime can only be issued up to 31.03.2022. It was the submissions that since the limitation for issuing of notice u/s 148 expired on 31.03.2022 under old regime, the benefit of extension was not applicable to the revenue. The ld. AR has submitted a calculation in this respect which reads as under:

4. The ld. AR relied on the decision of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India v. Rajeev Bansal [2024] 167 taxmann.com 70 (SC). The ld. AR further submits that the notice u/s 148 of the Act dated 28.07.2022 is barred by limitation and the consequential orders passed are bad in law. He further relied on the decision of the Coordinate Kolkata Bench of this Tribunal in the case of DCIT vs. Urvashi Sarees Pvt. Ltd. in ITA No.222&1946/Kol/2025 passed on 24.07.2025, wherein the Coordinate Bench has held as follows:

“3.2. At this juncture we need to consider the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Rajeev Bansal (supra), where it has been held as under:

“52. In Ashish Agarwal (supra), this Court held that the benefit of the new regime must be provided for the reassessment conducted for the past periods. The increase of the monetary threshold from Rupees one lakh to Rupees fifty lakh is beneficial for the assessees. Mr Venkataraman has also conceded on behalf of the Revenue that all notices issued under the new regime by invoking the six year time limit prescribed under section 149(1)(b) of the old regime will have to be dropped if the income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment is less than Rupees fifty lakhs.

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64. When enacting a statute, the legislature often endeavours to ensure that the provisions of one legislation do not conflict with provisions of another legislation. Interplay (supra) [between Arbitration Agreements under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 and the Indian Stamp Act 1899, 2023 INSC 1066]. The purpose of the Income-tax Act is to levy tax on income and raise revenues for the functioning of the Government. On the ot