https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=762968 ITAT Mumbai held that an assessment order under Section 144C passed without following mandatory procedural requirements was invalid and non-est. The AO bypassed required steps by directly issuing demand notice and initiating penalty proceedings on 28/12/2019 without first preparing draft assessment order and allowing DRP process. The tribunal ruled that once an assessment order becomes invalid, no provision exists to rectify a non-existing order, making all subsequent proceedings void. The assessee's challenge succeeded despite participation in subsequent proceedings, as statutory provisions cannot be overridden by estoppel principles. en-us Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0530 Tue, 10 Dec 2024 12:35:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=762968 ITAT Mumbai held that an assessment order under Section 144C passed without following mandatory procedural requirements was invalid and non-est. The AO bypassed required steps by directly issuing demand notice and initiating penalty proceedings on 28/12/2019 without first preparing draft assessment order and allowing DRP process. The tribunal ruled that once an assessment order becomes invalid, no provision exists to rectify a non-existing order, making all subsequent proceedings void. The assessee's challenge succeeded despite participation in subsequent proceedings, as statutory provisions cannot be overridden by estoppel principles. Case-Laws Income Tax Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=762968