Mandatory draft assessment order under section 144C(1) required after remand; direct final assessment was unsustainable.

Where section 144C(1) applies after remand, the Assessing Officer must first issue a draft assessment order before finalising the assessment. Direct completion of the assessment without that mandatory step was treated as a jurisdictional procedural defect, and the defect was held not curable under section 292B. On that basis, the additions were deleted and the Revenue's challenge failed, because the final assessment order could not be sustained without compliance with the draft-order procedure.

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Issues: Whether the Assessing Officer, after remand of issues by the Tribunal, was required to pass a draft assessment order under section 144C(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 before finalising the assessment, and whether failure to do so rendered the final assessment order unsustainable.

Analysis: The assessment arose after the Tribunal had remanded certain issues for fresh consideration. In such a situation, the Assessing Officer was bound to follow the procedure prescribed for eligible assessees and first issue a draft assessment order. The final assessment order was passed directly without this step. The omission was treated as a violation of the mandatory procedure under section 144C(1) and as a defect that could not be cured by section 292B.

Conclusion: The omission to pass a draft assessment order after remand was a fatal procedural defect, and the deletion of the additions was upheld. The Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The assessment made without compliance with the mandatory draft-order procedure could not be sustained, so the Revenue appeal was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where section 144C(1) applies, the Assessing Officer must first issue a draft assessment order before completing the assessment, and failure to do so is a non-curable jurisdictional defect.

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