In search assessments the Assessing Officer cannot pass the order without the prior approval of the Joint or Additional Commissioner. Courts have held the approval must show an application of mind, and composite, same-day or last-minute approvals covering many years or many assessees have been held to vitiate the assessments entirely.
Section 153D requires that no order of assessment or reassessment in a case falling under s.153A or s.153C be passed by an officer below the rank of Joint Commissioner except with the prior approval of the Joint Commissioner. The purpose is that a superior officer independently examines the draft before large search additions crystallise into demands. Two lines of facts recur. The first is timing: drafts placed before the approving authority a day or two before limitation, as in ACIT v Serajuddin & Co, where the Orissa High Court held that although elaborate reasons are not needed there must be some indication that the drafts were examined, and where the Supreme Court later dismissed the Revenue's SLP. The second is volume: a composite approval covering several years, or dozens of cases cleared in a day, as in PCIT v Shiv Kumar Nayyar, where the Delhi High Court held approval cannot be a ritualistic formality. The Bombay High Court applied the same test in late 2025 where over thirty approvals issued within minutes. The consequence is annulment rather than remand, because an approval showing no application of mind is treated as no approval. The point is won on documents, so the case stands or falls on obtaining the approval letter.
When must the satisfaction note be recorded before proceedings are taken against a third party?
A search was made on someone else and my papers were found. From which date are my six years counted - the search, or when my Assessing Officer got the papers?
The seized documents say nothing about the years being assessed. Can s.153C still be used for them?
Can I demand the satisfaction note and the reasons recorded before a search warrant was issued against me, and get the search quashed if they look thin?
A section 153C assessment was made on me after a search on someone else, but nothing incriminating about me was found. Does the Abhisar Buildwell rule protect me too?
The search was before June 2015 but the notice came later. Which version of s.153C applies?
Search assessment for a year already completed, but nothing incriminating was found. Can the officer still add?
Is an assessment on an amalgamated company always void?
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