CIT Vs Mavenir UK Holdings (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court held that AO is required to pass final assessment order u/s. 144C within period of one month from the end of the month in which period of filing objection expires. Passing of final assessment order beyond the period prescribed u/s. 144C of the Income Tax Act is bad-in-law.
Facts- The Revenue has filed the present appeal under Section 260A the Income Tax Act, 1961 impugning an order dated 05.01.2024 passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in ITA No.185/Del/2023 in respect of the assessment year 2013-14.
The ITAT had allowed the assessee’s appeal against an order dated 12.2022 passed by the Assessing Officer under Section 147 read with Section 144 of the Act. The ITAT concluded that the said order was beyond the period prescribed under Section 144C of the Act and therefore, was liable to be set aside.
Conclusion- In the present case, the draft assessment order was passed on 04.03.2022, thus, the assessee was required to file its objections before the learned Dispute Resolution Panel within the period of one month from the said date. The assessee had filed such objection on 06.04.2022, which was beyond the period of thirty days stipulated under sub-section (2) of Section 144C of the Act. There is no cavil that the Assessing Officer was required to pass the assessment order within a period of one month from the end of the month in which the period for filing the objections under sub-section (2) of Section 144C of the Act expired. Thus, the order was required to be passed within the period of one month from 30.04.2022.
