Case Law Details
FCI OEN Connectors Limited Vs DCIT (Kerala High Court)
e-proceeding facility that was introduced as part of the Government initiative towards e-Governance, in the Income Tax Department, was not made mandatory for proceedings initiated against assessees in Kochi city. Save for the assessees in the seven metro cities specified, of which Kochi is not one, for assessees located elsewhere in the country, the e-proceeding facility was made optional, and if the assessees chose not to opt for the electronic facility, the proceedings vis-a-vis the department had to be conducted manually. The services of notice under Section 142(1) or 143(2) and the replies/objections by the assesses had therefore, to be effected manually, although, in the absence of any objection by the assessee, an electronic service could also have been resorted to by the department.
In the instant case, the issue that arises for the consideration is whether, the service of the draft assessment order on the assessee, in terms of Section 144(C) of the Income Tax Act, was effected on 31/12/2018 / 01/01/2019 as contended by the department or only on 05/01/2019 as contended by the petitioner assessee.
It is not in dispute that the draft assessment order in electronic format was sent to the petitioner assessee on 31/12/2018 / 01/01/2019. The department, however, chose to send a manual version of the draft assessment order also to the petitioner assessee, and this was received by the petitioner on 05/01/2019.
In terms of Section 144(C)(2) of the Income Tax Act, the petitioner assessee was to submit his objections to the draft assessment order within 30 days of the receipt of the same, and the said objections were to be simultaneously sent to both the Dispute Resolution Panel as also to the Assessing Officer.
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