Case Law Details
Nikon India Pvt. Ltd. Vs DCIT (ITAT Delhi)
The issue under consideration is whether the assessment will sustain even if the Assessing Officer ignoring the statutory provisions of section 144C, passed the Final assessment order without issuing draft assessment order to the assessee?
In the present case, the Tribunal vide order dated 31.03.2017 remanded the matter back to the TPO/AO for fresh determination. Thus, as per Section 144C of the Act, it is mandatory for the Assessing Officer to pass draft Assessment Order. But instead of that, the Assessing Officer vide order dated 18.10.2019 merely captioned the final Assessment Order as Draft Assessment Order along with issuance of notices under Section 156 and 274 read with Section 271(1)(c) of the Act which means a final Assessment order u/s 144C was passed without following the mandatory provisions of Section 144C of the Act.
All pronounce decisions highlighted that final Assessment order passed in remand proceedings without passing a draft Assessment order is in violation of Section 144C of the Act and is therefore null and void. The Ld. DR could not bring any case law on contrary to these decisions. In fact, the statute itself gives a mandatory direction to the Assessing Officer under Section 144C that in the first instance the Assessing Officer should forward the draft of the proposed order of assessment. Thus, the Assessment order itself is bad in law and void ab initio, hence quashed. Hence, appeal filed by the assessee is allowed.
FULL TEXT OF THE ITAT JUDGEMENT
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