IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS DATED : 23.02.2026 CORAM :

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.SARAVANAN and W.M.P. No. 909 of 2023 Mr. Nemichand Goutham Chand ... Petitioner Vs.

1.Central Board of Direct Taxes, Represented by its Chairperson, Department of Revenue – Ministry of Finance, Government of India, New Delhi.

2.Income Tax Officer, Non Corp Ward – 10(1), CHE, No.121, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai – 34.

3.Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, No.121, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai – 34. ... Respondents Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, for issuance of a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records in PAN: AACPG1420E and quash the impugned order under clause (d) of Section 148A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in ITBA/AST/F/148A/2022- 23/1042653569(1) issued on 08.04.2022 and the consequential notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in ITBA/AST/S/148_1/2022-

23/1042654275(1) dated 08.04.2022 for the A.Y. 2015-16 by the 2^nd respondent as illegal and without jurisdiction.

For Petitioner : Mr. R. Sivaraman For Respondents : Ms. C.P. Priya, Senior Standing Counsel

O R D E R

The Petitioner has challenged the impugned order dated 08.04.2022 issued under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and the consequential Section 148 Notice also dated 08.04.2022 issued under the new regime in force with effect from 01.04.2021. The challenge to the impugned order and notice are two-fold.

2. It is the case of the Petitioner that the Petitioner had been allotted a PAN bearing No. AACPG1420E and since the Petitioner had issues with the said PAN, the Petitioner therefore applied for and obtained a fresh PAN, namely AWWPG6614Q. For the Assessment Year in question, i.e., Assessment Year 2015-2016, the Petitioner filed the return of income under Section 139(1) on 28.09.20215, with new PAN, which was acknowledged on

29.09.2015.

3. It is further submitted that the Petitioner was issued with an intimation for the succeeding Assessment Years, namely 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 on 13.03.2018, stating that the Petitioner had not filed the Returns for the old PAN AACPG1420E. In response to the same, the Petitioner has clearly informed the Respondents that there were issues with the said PAN and therefore it had been surrendered and a new PAN had been obtained by the petitioner. In the reply dated 01.07.2019, the Petitioner, further stated that the petitioner has been filing returns for the past three assessment years with the new PAN.

4. Reference was also made to the letter dated 30.06.2017, wherein it was again stated as under:

“I have already given request dated 24/03/12 to surrender my old pan number AACPG1420G due to corrections in the pan details. But this pan number is still showing as active status in income tax pan verification systems. Post surrendering old pan number, I have been allotted a new Pan Number-AWWPG6614Q which is being used for the past 3 financial years. Kindly consider this request and delete the Old Pan Number-AACPG1420E in the income tax pan verification systems.”

5. The said letter also bears a seal of the Income-tax Department dated 07.07.2017, acknowledging receipt of the old PAN, namely PAN No.

AACPG1420E.

6. The Petitioner appears to have also enclosed copies of the Income-Tax Returns for three years. It is submitted that the Respondents issued a notice on 17.03.2022 for the Assessment Year 2015-2016, even though the limitation for issuance of a notice under Section 148 would expire on 31.03.2022.

7. Learned counsel for the Petitioner had argued that the initiation of proceedings was also barred by limitation. The learned counsel for the Petitioner however, later decided not to press the challenge to the proceedings on the ground of limitation under Section 149 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

8. Learned counsel for the Petitioner further submits that the income sought to be assessed in the hands of the petitioner with the old PAN, namely AACPG1420E, was alread