ORDER
By way of this petition, the petitioner has challenged the reassessment under section 147(a) of the Income Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) and the issuance of notice under section 148 of the Act on the ground that there was no material before the department for coming to the conclusion that the matter required reassessment. It is submitted by the counsel for the petitioner that because of this writ petition, the proceedings in appeal were stayed by the Commissioner (Appeals) and he will be satisfied in case a direction was given to the Commissioner (Appeals) to decide this appeal within the time fixed by this court.
2. In view of the submissions made and in view of the fact that the petitioner has already availed of the remedy of appeal by filing appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) against the order of reassessment, in my view, it will not be proper for this court to interfere with the order directing reassessment. However, since the appeal is pending for quite sometime, I deem it appropriate to issue directions to the Commissioner (Appeals) to decide the same within the time given by this court.
3. I, accordingly, dispose of this petition with a direction to the Commissioner (Appeals) to decide the appeal filed by the petitioner within four months from today. The petitioner will make an application before the Commissioner (Appeals) for reopening his appeal and on receipt of that application, the Commissioner (Appeals) will take immediate steps for having the matter disposed of expeditiously.