Electronic issuance of reassessment notices requires actual despatch; mere signing or dating within limitation is insufficient.

Reassessment notices under sections 148 and 149 were held time-barred because issuance is complete only when the notice is actually despatched beyond the control of the issuing authority. Mere preparation, digital signing, or dating of the notice as 31.03.2021 did not amount to valid issuance within limitation where the departmental records showed despatch from the Income Tax Business Application portal on or after 01.04.2021. In electronic dispatch, the operative date is the date of actual system despatch, not the date printed on the notice. The writ petitions succeeded and the notices were unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether notices issued under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 were barred by limitation when the departmental records showed despatch from the Income Tax Business Application portal on or after 01.04.2021, and whether mere preparation or digital signing of the notice on 31.03.2021 amounted to valid issuance within time.

Analysis: The decisive question was when a notice is "issued" for the purpose of sections 148 and 149. The Court examined the departmental electronic workflow and the statutory distinction between signing, generation, and despatch. It accepted the line of authority that issuance is complete only when the notice is sent out and goes beyond the control of the originating authority. Since the records showed that the impugned notices had left the portal only on or after 01.04.2021, mere preparation or dating of the notices as 31.03.2021 did not save them from the bar of limitation. The Court also endorsed the view that, in electronic dispatch, the relevant date is the date of actual despatch from the system, not the date shown on the notice.

Conclusion: The notices were held to be time-barred and unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petitions succeeded because the impugned reassessment notices could not be treated as validly issued within the limitation period.

Ratio Decidendi: For reassessment notices under sections 148 and 149 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, issuance is complete only when the notice is actually despatched beyond the control of the issuing authority, and not when it is merely prepared, signed, or dated within limitation.

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