the other person in accordance with the provisions of section 153A, if, that Assessing Officer is satisfied that the books of account or documents or assets seized or requisitioned have a bearing on the determination of the total income of such other person for the relevant assessment year or years referred to in sub-section (1) of section 153A". As held by previous decisions, without that nexus, and fulfillment of the preconditions, clearly, the option provided by section 153C(2) to proceed against pending or assessments cannot be made recourse to. Since the satisfaction in terms of section 153C(1) was clearly inadequate (assuming that the original satisfaction, transmitting the papers to the assessee's Assessing Officer was valid), the assessment completed for these years was also invalid. The court also notices in this regard, that the non-obstante provisions in both sections 153A and 153C are identical; they override sections 136, 147, 148, 149, 151 and 153. However, they do not override the mandatory provisions of section 142(2) or 143(2). This legislative design is taken further by section 153(2)(a) to (c) which are relatable to the satisfaction under section 153C(1) notice, i.e., that if notice for pending assessments have not been issued, to take further proceedings, and the time has lapsed, the only condition when they can be taken forward, is if the satisfaction with respect to materials seized are relatable to the assessee is through application of mind and not a mechanical one, as insisted by RRJ Securities (supra), Pepsico Holdings India Ltd. (supra), Nikki Drugs (supra), etc.
