TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (12) TMI 928
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.... the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred both on facts and in law in rejecting the contention of the assessee that the proceedings initiated under Section 153C and the assessment order passed in consequence thereto are bad in law in the absence of any incriminating material belonging to the assessee being found during the search. 5. On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred both on facts and in law in dismissing the appeal preferred by the assessee without considering the fact that the impugned assessment order has been passed without issuance of statutory notices as required under the law 6. (i) On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred both on facts and in law in making addition of Rs. 6,70,000/- treating the same unexplained money u/s 60A of the Act. (ii) That the above addition has been confirmed by arbitrarily rejecting the explanations and the evidences brought on record by the assessee. 7. (i) On the facts and circumstances of the case, the learned CIT(A) has erred both on facts and in law in confirming addition of Rs. 10,050/- on account of commission treating the same as une....
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....s which are on record in the assessment proceedings there is no reason why such a question should not be allowed to be raised when it is necessary to consider that question in order to correctly assess the tax liability of an assessee. We, therefore following the decision (supra) of the Hon'ble Apex Court admitted the additional ground and proceed to consider the same. 5. The Ld. AR invited our attention to the order of the Ld. AO dated 24.12.2021 for AY 2015-16 passed under section 153C/143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the "Act") which was the subject matter of appeal before the Ld. CIT(A). He pointed out that it will be observed that there is no mention of Document Identification Number ("DIN") in the body of the assessment order which is in violation of para 2 of the CBDT Circular No. 19/2021 dated 14.08.2019. He further submitted that perusal of the order would also reveal that there is no mention of any reason for non-issuance of DIN and the date of approval of Director General / Chief Commissioner of Income Tax for issuing the order without DIN. He submitted that the DIN was issued by the Ld. AO subsequently through a separate communication dated 03.02.2022 which is also ....
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....n delivery of services and has also brought greater transparency in the functioning of the tax-administration. Presently, almost all notices and orders are being generated electronically on the Income Tax Business Application (ITBA) platform. However, it has been brought to the notice of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (the Board) that there have been some instances in which the notice, order, summons, letter and any correspondence (hereinafter referred to as "communication") were found to have been issued manually, without maintaining a proper audit trail of such communication. 2. In order to prevent such instances and to maintain proper audit trail of all communication, the Board in exercise of power under section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), has decided that no communication shall be issued by any income-tax authority relating to assessment, appeals, orders, statutory or otherwise, exemptions, enquiry, investigation, verification of information, penalty, prosecution, rectification, approval etc. to the assessee or any other person, on or after the 1st day of October, 2019 unless a computer-generated Document Identification Number (D....
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.... on the System. 6. An intimation of issuance of manual communication for the reasons mentioned in para 3(v) shall be sent to the Principal Director General of Income-tax (Systems) within seven days from the date of its issuance. 7. Further, in all pending assessment proceedings, where notices were issued manually, prior to issuance of this Circular, the income-tax authorities shall identify such cases and shall upload the notices in these cases on the Systems by 31 October, 2019. 8. Hindi version to follow. (Sarita Kumari) Director (ITA.II), CBDT (F.NO. 225/95/2019-ITA.II) Copy to:- i. PS to FM/OSD to FM/PS to MoS(F)/OSD to MoS(F) ii. PS to Secretary (Revenue) iii. Chairman, CBDT & All Members, CBDT iv. All Pr.CCsIT/Pr.DsGIT v. All Joint Secreataries/CsIT. CBDT vi. C&AG vii. CIT (M&TP), Official Spokesperson of CBDT viii. O/o Pr. DGIT(Systems) for uploading on official website ix. Addl.CIT (Database Cell) for uploading on the departmental website (Sarita Kumari) Director (ITA.II), CBDT 9. In para 2 thereof it is stated that in order to prevent instances (narrated in the opening para) and to maintain audit trail of all communication, no communicatio....
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....2019. Therefore, the consequence mentioned in para 4 of the said Circular, namely that the impugned assessment order dated 24.12.2021 be treated as invalid and non-est in the eye of law should follow. 13. We do not find any substance in the reasons stated by the Ld. AO in his email dated 03.08.2023 for issuance of assessment order without DIN as it is a matter of record that the impugned assessment order neither contain any DIN and nor any reason for non-mentioning of DIN thereof. Rather, we are in complete agreement with the above contentions of the assessee. In our view, the subsequent communication dated 03.02.2022 issued by the Ld. AO generating DIN for the impugned assessment order cannot make good the deficiency in the assessment order issued without generating DIN. In taking this view we are supported by the ratio decidendi of the decision of Hon'ble Delhi High Court in CIT (International Taxation) vs. Brandix Mauritius Holdings Ltd. dated 20.03.2023 reported in (2023) 293 Taxman 385 (Delhi) wherein the Hon'ble Delhi High Court dismissed the Revenue's appeal observing and holding as under:- "8.1 In a nutshell, communications referred to in the 2019 Circular would fall in ....
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....paragraph 4 of the 2019 Circular would apply. 17. Paragraph 4 of the 2019 Circular, as extracted hereinabove, decidedly provides that any communication which is not in conformity with paragraph 2 and 3 shall be treated as invalid and shall be deemed to have never been issued. The phraseology of paragraph 4 of the 2019 Circular fairly puts such communication, which includes communication of assessment order, in the category of communication which are non-est in law. 17.1 It is also well established that circulars issued by the CBDT in exercise of its powers under Section 119 of the Act are binding on the" revenue. 17.2 The aforementioned principle stands enunciated in a long line of judgements, including the Supreme Court's judgment rendered in K.P. Varghese v. Income Tax Officer, Ernakulam and Anr., (1981) 4 SCC 173. The relevant extracts are set forth hereafter: "12. But the construction which is commending itself to us does not rest merely on the principle of contemporanea expositio. The two circulars of the Central Board of Direct Taxes to which we have just referred are legally binding on the Revenue and this binding character attaches to the two circulars even if they ....
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....tially granted exemption from the operation of the said provisions by making it clear to all the companies and their shareholders that if the past loans were genuinely refunded to the companies they would not he taken into account under Section 12(1 -B), " Sections 2(6-A)(e) and 12(1-B) did not suffer from the vice of unconstitutionality. This decision was followed in Ellerman Lines case [(1972) 4 SCC 474 : 1974 SCC (Tax) 304 : 82 ITR 913] where referring to another circular issued by the Central Board of Revenue under Section 5(8) of the Indian Income Tax Act, 1922 on which reliance was placed on behalf of the assessee, this Court observed: "Now, coming to the question as to the effect of instructions issued under Section 5(8) of the Act, this Court observed in Navnitlal C. Javeri v. K.K. Sen, Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Bombay [AIR 1965 SC 1375 : (1965) 1 SCR 909 : 56 ITR 198] : 'It is clear that a circular of the kind which was issued by the Board would be binding on all officers and persons employed in the execution of the Act under Section 5(8) of the Act. This circular pointed out to all the officers that it was likely that some of the companies might have advance....
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....s for consideration, which, inter alls, would require the Court to examine whether the issue is debatable or if there is an alternate view possible. Given the language employed in the 2019 Circular, there is neither any scope for debate not is there any leeway for an alternate view. 21.1 We find no error in the view adopted by the Tribunal. The Tribunal has simply applied the provisions of the 2019 Circular and thus, reached a conclusion in favour of the respondent/assessee. 22. Accordingly, the appeal filed by the appellant/revenue is closed." 14. Apart from decision of the Hon'ble jurisdictional Delhi High (supra), the case of the assessee also finds support from various judicial precedents cited before us by the Ld. AR. Though it is not necessary to multiply authorities on the point, however to the similar effect is the subsequent decision of the Hon'ble Calcutta High Court in the case of PCIT vs. M/s. Tata Medical Centre Trust (ITAT/202/2023) dated 26.09.2023 and Hon'ble Bombay High Court in the case of Ashok Commercial Enterprises vs. ACIT (WP. No. 2595 of 2021 with WP. No. 2953 of 2021, 2847, 2588, 2598, 2597, 2696, 2625, 2594 of 2021) wherein the Hon'ble Bombay High Cou....