https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=757913 HC held that the AO's failure to first issue a draft assessment order under Section 144C, and instead directly passing a final assessment order, violated the mandatory procedure and rendered the assessment a nullity. The Court reaffirmed that Section 144C is obligatory where applicable, and non-compliance invalidates the assessment. Further, HC rejected the revenue's plea to effectively extend the statutory limitation under Section 153, holding that courts cannot enlarge legislatively prescribed time limits absent express statutory authority or an applicable exclusion provision. As no interim order had restrained the AO from completing the assessment, the limitation had expired. The writ petitions were allowed and the assessments quashed. en-us Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0530 Mon, 15 Dec 2025 17:37:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=757913 HC held that the AO's failure to first issue a draft assessment order under Section 144C, and instead directly passing a final assessment order, violated the mandatory procedure and rendered the assessment a nullity. The Court reaffirmed that Section 144C is obligatory where applicable, and non-compliance invalidates the assessment. Further, HC rejected the revenue's plea to effectively extend the statutory limitation under Section 153, holding that courts cannot enlarge legislatively prescribed time limits absent express statutory authority or an applicable exclusion provision. As no interim order had restrained the AO from completing the assessment, the limitation had expired. The writ petitions were allowed and the assessments quashed. Case-Laws Income Tax Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=757913