Suneel Kumar Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
The assessee filed an appeal against the order of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)/National Faceless Appeal Centre dated 19.12.2025 foar Assessment Year 2012-13. The principal contention raised before the Tribunal was that the assessment order dated 18.12.2019 had not been digitally signed by the Assessing Officer, which, according to the assessee, violated CBDT Instruction No. 1/2018 [F. No. 225/157/2017-ITA.II] dated 12.02.2018 governing electronic assessment proceedings. The assessee further relied upon the decision of the Coordinate Bench of the Tribunal in Navneet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Vs. ITO, wherein an assessment order had been quashed on the same ground.
The Revenue did not dispute that the assessment order lacked a digital signature. However, it submitted that the Assessing Officer had made the additions in accordance with law with the intention of collecting the due tax from the assessee and, therefore, the appeal deserved to be dismissed.
After hearing both parties and examining the record, the Tribunal observed that the assessment order was admittedly not digitally signed by the Assessing Officer. It noted that this was contrary to CBDT Instruction No. 1/2018, which prescribes the procedure for conducting scrutiny assessments electronically. The Tribunal further observed that an identical issue had already been decided by the Coordinate Bench in Navneet Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Vs. ITO.
