2026 (4) TMI 890

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....ashed. Ld. CIT(A) erred in confirming addition based on illegal assessment order." 3. That assailing the said legal ground, the Ld. Counsel demonstrated that the approval u/s. 151 of the Act by the competent authority remains unsigned and thereby, violative of Section 282A(1) of the Act. 4. I find that the issue involved in the present appeal is squarely covered by the ITAT, SMC Bench, Raipur in the case of Leeladhar Chandrakar & Neelam Chandrakar Vs. ITO, Ward-1(1), Bhilai (C.G.), ITA Nos. 442, 443 & 444/RPR/2025, dated 07.08.2025 and therein, the Tribunal had referred to and affirmed the view taken in another decision of ITAT, SMC Bench, Raipur in the case of Smt. Shobha Duvey Vs. ITO, Ward-3(1), Raipur, ITA No.395/RPR/2025, dated 04.08.2025 providing relief to the assessee. The relevant paras of the aforesaid order are extracted as follows: "21. At the very outset, the Ld. Counsel for the assessee referring to Page 4 of the paper book submitted that the notice u/s. 148 of the Act is left unsigned and though therein appears the name and designation of the Income Tax Authority, however, it is sans any signature. I have carefully perused the documents on record parti....

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....l be deemed to be authenticated if name and designation is provided. In approval under Section 151 of the Act of 1961, name, designation and office is printed. Hence, submission of learned counsel for petitioner that approval is not digitally signed is also not sustainable, more so when it bears DIN & Document Number." 6. That before responding to the submissions of the Ld. Sr. DR, it would be pertinent to extract the provision of Section 282A of the Act which reads as follows: "282A. (1) Where this Act requires a notice or other document to be issued by any income-tax authority, such notice or other document shall be signed and issued in paper form or communicated in electronic form by that authority in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed. (2) Every notice or other document to be issued, served or given for the purposes of this Act by any income-tax authority, shall be deemed to be authenticated if the name and office of a designated income-tax authority is printed, stamped or otherwise written thereon. (3) For the purposes of this section, a designated income-tax authority shall mean any income-tax authority authorised by the Bo....

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....rt has referred deeming provision with regard to the authentication in respect of notice or other document if the name and office of a designated income-tax authority is printed, stamped or otherwise written thereon. There is no dispute that as per requirement of the provision for authentication of such notice, the presence of name and office of the designated Incomer Tax Authority, if it is printed etc. then it shall be deemed to be authenticated. However, this provision does not supersedes Clause (1) of Section 282A of the Act where it is mandatory first and foremost that the competent Income Tax Authority issuing any notice shall sign such notice or other document irrespective of such notice issued either on paper form or communicated through electronic form. Meaning thereby, signing of notice issued to the assessee is mandatory and that is not dispensed with by the deeming provision of Clause (2) to Section 282A of the Act which is only with regard to authentication of such notice. "Authentication" essentially refers to making the assessee aware that such notice has been issued from Income Tax Department and such authentication shall deemed to exist if the name and office of th....

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....xed on it, digitally or manually, the same is invalid and would not vest the Assessing Officer with any further jurisdiction to proceed to reassess the income of the petitioner. Consequently, the notice dated 02.04.2022 u/s.148 of the Act issued to the petitioner being invalid and sought to be issued after three years from the end of the relevant assessment year 2015-16 with which we are concerned in this petition, any steps taken by the respondents in furtherance of notice dated 21.03.2022 issued under clause (b) of section 148A of the Act and order dated 02.04.2022 issued under clause (d) of section 148A of the Act, would be without jurisdiction, and therefore, arbitrary and contrary to Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Consequently, we quash and set aside the notice dated 02.04.2022 issued by the respondents u/s.148 of the Act, order dated 02.04.2022 under clause (b) of section 148A of the Act and notice dated 21.03.2022 issued under clause (b) of section 148A of the Act." 11. Further the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of ACIT Vs. Hotel Blue Moon, 321 ITR 362 (SC) has held that issuance of notice u/s. 143(2) of the Act is sine-qua-non for framing of an assessm....