Sec. 245 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961—Refund - Respondents cannot be allowed to invoke section 241A for the first time in the affidavit in reply to the writ petition filed by the petitioner. Be that as it may, a plain reading of the said provision makes it clear that the power to withhold the refund granted to the AO is subject to the previous approval of the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner, as the case may be and that also would be for every assessment year after 1st April, 2017 where refund of any amount becomes due to the assessee under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 143 and not for the earlier assessment year. The assessment year in question is 2014-15. The section 241A pressed in service even in the affidavit-in-reply or otherwise is not attracted to the refund of assessment year 2014-15 or any assessment year prior to 2017-18. There is no determination of any further tax liability for any other assessment year which liability can be adjusted against the admitted refundable amount determined by the respondent No. 1 assuming section 241A is applicable or otherwise. Accordingly directions issued to the respondent for refund. - VODAFONE IDEA LIMITED V/s ASSTT. CIT - [2020] 272 TAXMAN 335 (BOM)