Vineet Kumar Jain Vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi)
Section 154 Order Cannot Survive Once Assessment Is Quashed; CIT(A) Can’t Direct Reopening: ITAT Delhi
The appeals before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Delhi, arose from separate orders of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)-24 dated 30.10.2025 and 07.11.2025, relating to assessment orders passed under Sections 153A read with 143(3) and 154 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for Assessment Years (AYs) 2013-14 and 2019-20. Since both appeals involved the same assessee, they were heard together and disposed of by a common order.
Appeal for AY 2013-14 (ITA No. 8474/Del/2025)
The assessee challenged the order passed under Section 154 read with Section 153A, raising grounds including that the rectification order was beyond the scope of Section 154, involved a debatable issue relating to an addition of ₹27,11,491, lacked approval under Section 153D, was based on incorrect facts and unconfronted material, violated principles of natural justice, related to an unabated assessment year without incriminating material, and did not contain a Document Identification Number (DIN) in accordance with CBDT Circular No. 19/2019.
At the outset, the assessee submitted that the assessment order passed under Section 153A read with Section 143(3) dated 24.06.2021, which formed the basis of the subsequent Section 154 order dated 08.09.2021, had already been quashed by a co-ordinate Bench of the Tribunal. Consequently, it was argued that the Section 154 order and the appellate order confirming it had become infructuous.
