S. 133A does not mandate that any statement recorded under that section would have evidentiary value. It merely enables the authority to record the statement of any person which may be useful for, or relevant to, any proceeding under the Act. For a statement to have evidentiary value, the survey officer should have been authorised to administer oath and to record sworn statement as under s.132 (4). While s. 132(4) specifically authorizes an officer to examine a person on oath, s. 133A does not permit the same

Once the CIT is vested with the power of condonation of delay, then it is incumbent upon the CIT to take into consideration the reasons mentioned by the assessee seeking condonation of delay. In matters of this kind, wherein a benefit is sought to be given to an assessee that too with retrospective effect, a highly technical and pedantic approach is required to be eschewed and approach which furthers the intent and purport of the legislation is required to be adopted

It is well settled that in matters of condonation of delay a highly pedantic approach should be eschewed and a justice oriented approach should be adopted and a party should not be made to suffer on account of technicalities

Power u/s 263 cannot be exercised unless both conditions are satisfied i.e. the order is (i) erroneous and (ii) prejudicial to the interest of the revenue. There is a fine though subtle distinction between “lack of inquiry” and “inadequate inquiry”. It is only in cases of “lack of inquiry” that revisional powers u/s 263 can be exercised. Further, while lack of enquiry by the AO may render the assessment order “erroneous” it is not necessarily “prejudicial to the interests of the revenue”. The CIT must deal with the submissions of the assessee and give reasons as to how the order is erroneous and prejudicial to the interests of the revenue. A bare assertion is not sufficient. S. 263 proceedings cannot be initiated with a view to starting fishing and roving inquiries

The argument that there is a “sale” of a Sim Card is not acceptable because a Sim Card has no value or use for the subscriber other than to get connection to the mobile network. The supply of the Sim Card is only for the purpose of rendering continued services by the assessee to the subscriber of the mobile phone. Consequently, the charges collected by the assessee at the time of delivery of Sim Cards or Recharge coupons is for rendering services to ultimate subscribers