Ishan Gupta Vs Union of India and Others — Income Tax | Punjab & Haryana HC (2025)

Ishan Gupta Vs Union of India and Others — Income Tax | Punjab & Haryana HC (2025)

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Writ petition disposed of in terms of Jatinder Singh Bhangu (decided 19.07.2024) and Jasjit Singh (decided 29.07.2024), with the attendant liberty to the revenue to follow the procedure laid down under the Act, 1961 and proceed accordingly, if so advised; all pending applications, if any, also disposed of.

Issue for consideration

Whether the notice dated 28.03.2025 issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and the consequential actions thereof, for AY 2021-2022 were validly issued, given the petitioner's contention that the Issuing Authority had no jurisdiction in view of the CBDT circular/notification dated 29.03.2022 vesting exclusive power to issue Section 148 notices in the NFAC.

Court's answer

The writ petition is disposed of in terms of the Co-ordinate Bench decisions in Jatinder Singh Bhangu (CWP No. 15745-2024, decided 19.07.2024) and Jasjit Singh (CWP No. 21509-2023, decided 29.07.2024), i.e., on the same terms as those petitions, under which the revenue was granted liberty to follow the procedure laid down under the Act, 1961 and proceed accordingly, if so advised.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Punjab & Haryana High Court (Lisa Gill and Sudeepti Sharma JJ.; judgment authored by Sudeepti Sharma, J.), decided 18.07.2025 in CWP-20125-2025 (O&M): Ishan Gupta challenged a notice dated 28.03.2025 issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and all consequential actions for AY 2021-2022, contending that the Issuing Authority had no jurisdiction because, per the CBDT circular/notification dated 29.03.2022, the NFAC has exclusive power to issue Section 148 notices. Counsel for the Union of India did not dispute that the issue was covered by the Co-ordinate Bench decisions in Jatinder Singh Bhangu (CWP No. 15745-2024, decided 19.07.2024) and Jasjit Singh (CWP No. 21509-2023, decided 29.07.2024), which had allowed identical writ petitions with liberty to the revenue to follow the statutory procedure. The petition was accordingly disposed of in terms of those two decisions; pending applications, if any, were also disposed of.

CWP-20125-2025

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

131

CWP-20125-2025 (O&M) Date of Decision:-18.07.2025

Ishan Gupta

....Petitioner

Vs.

Union of India & ors.

...Respondents

CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE LISA GILL HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SUDEEPTI SHARMA

Present: Mr. Ish Puneet Singh, Mr. Ravinder Singh, Mr. Sourav, Advocates for the petitioner.

Mr. Varun Issar, Sr. Standing counsel with Ms. Pridhi Sandhu, Jr. Standing counsel for the respondents

SUDEEPTI SHARMA, J.

Challenge in the instant writ petition is to notice dated 28.03.2025 issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘Act 1961”) and all consequential actions, for AY 2021-2022.

Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that the issue involved in the present writ petition is covered by the judgment passed by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the cases of Jatinder Singh Bhangu vs. Union of India and others , passed in CWP No. 15745-2024 and connected matter, decided on 19.07.2024 and Jasjit Singh vs. Union of India and others (CWP No. 21509-2023 and other connected matters), decided on 29.07.2024 .

Learned counsel appearing for Union of India has also not disputed the same.

We have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the

Gaurav Arora 2025.07.28 10:36 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document

CWP-20125-2025

2

whole records of the case.

The petitioner has challenged the notice dated 28.03.2025 issued under Section 148 of the Act, 1961 and all consequential actions, for AY 2021-2022 on the ground that the Issuing Authority had no jurisdiction to issue the same, in view of the circular/notification dated 29.03.2022 of the CBDT, wherein, it has been specifically enumerated that the NFAC has exclusive power to issue the notice under Section 148 of the Act, 1961.

A Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Jatinder Singh Bhangu’s case (supra) and Jasjit Singh’s case (supra), allowed the writ petitions on the same issue, as raised in the present writ petition, by granting liberty to the revenue to follow the procedure as laid down under the Act, 1961 and proceed accordingly, if so advised.

In view of the above, the present writ petition is disposed of, in terms of Jatinder Singh Bhangu’s case (supra), decided on 19.07.2024 and Jasjit Singh’s case (supra), decided on 29.07.2024.

All the pending applications, if any, also stand disposed of.

(LISA GILL) (SUDEEPTI SHARMA) JUDGE JUDGE 18.07.2025 Gaurav Arora Whether speaking/reasoned : Yes/No Whether reportable : Yes/No

Gaurav Arora

Gaurav Arora 2025.07.28 10:36 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document