Anita Garg Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
ITAT Delhi held that the assessment framed by the Assessing Officer u/s 143(3) dated 27.12.2019 pursuant to the notice issued u/s 143(2) dated 22.09.2018 which was not in the prescribed format as notified by the CBDT, is bad in law and void ab initio and the same is hereby quashed.
Facts of the case
The assessee has deposited cash of Rs. 2,68,78,500/- during demonetization period. The assessee could not appear before AO as well as CIT(A) i.e. ex-parte order before both the authorities.
Additional Ground raised during the proceeding
The asssessee has raised additional ground that “On the facts and circumstances of the case, the Assessing Officer erred in issuing notice u/s 143(2) of
the Income Tax Act, 1961 dated 09.08.2018 in violation of CBDT Instruction F.No.225/157/2017/ITA-II dated 23.06.2017. Therefore, the said notice is invalid, and assessment framed pursuant thereto is vitiated in law.”
Submissions of the assessee
On 23.06.2017, CBDT has issued an instruction vide instruction no F.No.225/157/2017/ITA-II regarding revised format of notice u/s 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter “the Act”). In para 2 of this instruction, CBDT Specified three formats of notices are: Limited Scrutiny (CASS), Completed Scrutiny (CASS) and Compulsory Manual Scrutiny and formats were attached in pg. no. 2,3 and 4 respectively. In para 3 of the instruction, CBDT direct that all the notice u/s 143(2) of the Act, shall henceforth, be issued in revised format only.
