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Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax & Anr. v. M/s. Omaxe Limited

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 1000Decided 16 Sept 2026
Civil Appeal No. 9190 of 2013
Justice S.V.N. Bhatti · Justice N.V. Anjaria

Background

Omaxe Limited, a real-estate company, had gone to the Income Tax Settlement Commission (ITSC) to settle its tax dues for Assessment Year 2006-07, including a large deduction claimed under Section 80IB(10) of the Income Tax Act for housing projects. The ITSC passed a final settlement order in 2008 accepting the company's disclosed income. Later, after a fresh survey uncovered internal documents suggesting the company was restructuring some commercial areas of its projects to keep claiming this deduction, the tax department issued a notice to reopen the assessment and disallowed over Rs. 65 crores of the deduction. The Delhi High Court quashed this reassessment, holding the ITSC's order was conclusive and could not be reopened by the Assessing Officer.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court traced the entire statutory scheme of Chapter XIX-A of the Income Tax Act (the Settlement Commission mechanism), holding that once the ITSC admits a settlement application, it acquires exclusive jurisdiction over the case for that assessment year, displacing the ordinary assessment machinery. Once the ITSC passes its final order, that order is conclusive under Section 245-I and cannot be reopened by an Assessing Officer through a reassessment notice. The only route available to the tax department to reopen a settlement is to approach the ITSC itself under Section 245D(6), alleging fraud or misrepresentation, which the department in this case had already tried and lost. Since the department's own remedy before the ITSC had already been rejected on merits (a finding that had become final), the Court held there was no independent legal basis left for the reassessment notice, and dismissed the Revenue's appeal.

Lesson Learnt

Once a taxpayer's dispute has gone through the Settlement Commission and a final settlement order is passed, that order is conclusive and cannot be undone through an ordinary reassessment notice. The tax department's only recourse against an allegedly fraudulent settlement is to go back to the Settlement Commission itself, not around it.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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