In this case, the approval/sanction for order under Section
148A(d) of the Act has been granted by the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax-8. The entire controversy is, therefore, (a) whether the Principal Commissioner was the specified authority, who could have granted the approval / sanction ?, (b) if not, the effect thereof? The impugned notice mentions that the prior approval has been taken of the ‘Principal Commissioner of Income-tax – 8’ (‘PCIT-8’) which is bad in law as the approval should have been obtained in terms of section 151(ii) and not section 151(i) of the Act and the PCIT-8 cannot be the specified authority as per section 151 of the Act. In our view, the approval is not valid. Hence, the impugned order passed under Section 148A(d) read with notice issued under Section 148 of the Act dated 31st July 2022 is not valid and has to be quashed and set aside.