Dismissing the appeal of the Revenue the Court held that once the Assessing Officer has raised queries which the assessee may not have answered fully then to say that this is a case of no enquiry cannot be permitted. What Section 263 covered prior to insertion of Explanation 2 was a case of no enquiry but not a case of inadequate enquiry. Prior to the insertion of Explanation 2, it was the prerogative of the Assessing Officer to determine what enquiry he wants to make while completing the assessment. Accordingly the CIT could not invoke jurisdiction under Section 263 as the view taken by the Assessing Officer was a possible/plausible view. It was only if the Assessing Officer had not made any enquiry then it could be said that the order passed was erroneous. This is not a case of lack of enquiry though it may be a case of inadequate enquiry. Inadequacy of enquiry as elucidated above does not give jurisdiction to the CIT to invoke provisions of Section 263 prior to the insertion of Explanation 2. Accordingly the order of Tribunal was affirmed. (AY. 2006-07)
PCIT v. Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp Ltd. (2022) 220 DTR 305 (Bom.)(HC)
S. 263 : Commissioner-Revision of orders prejudicial to revenue-Interest expenditure-One Time Settlement (‘OTS’)-Write off of interest receivable-Order was passed after making enquiry-Prior to the insertion of Explanation 2-Order of Tribunal quashing the revision order was affirmed. [S. 36(1)(iii), 36(1)(vii), 143((3), 260A]