Sunil Sharma Vs ITO (ITAT Delhi)
Unsigned Digital Reassessment Notices Held Void – ITAT Quashes Entire 147 Proceedings
The Delhi ITAT quashed reassessment proceedings against the assessee after holding that notices issued u/s 148A(b), order passed u/s 148A(d) and notice issued u/s 148 were invalid since they were not digitally signed by the Assessing Officer. The Tribunal noted that the reassessment proceedings were conducted through the e-proceedings mechanism, and CBDT Instruction No. 1/2018 specifically mandates that all notices, communications and orders issued through e-proceedings must be digitally signed by the Assessing Officer. Since the notices in the present case carried no digital signatures, the reassessment proceedings were held to be non-est in law.
Relying on earlier Delhi Tribunal rulings including Navyug Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Outsystems Singapore Pte. Ltd., the Bench observed that when a statute or prescribed procedure requires an act to be done in a particular manner, it must be done only in that manner. The ITAT further held that manual signing of notices/orders in e-proceedings is impermissible and constitutes an incurable defect which vitiates the entire reassessment. Accordingly, the Tribunal declared the notices issued u/s 148A(b), 148A(d) and 148 as invalid and quashed the assessment framed u/s 144 r.w.s. 147 as void ab initio.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT DELHI
