TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (7) TMI 898
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....) and the consequent Assessment Order dated 30th March 2022 passed under Section 147, read with Section 144B, of the IT Act by Respondent No. 3. The dispute in the present Writ Petition relates to Assessment Year 2013-14. The short ground on which the aforesaid Notice and the Assessment Order are challenged is that though the impugned Notice under Section 148 is dated 31st March 2021 and digitally signed on 31st March 2021, it was received by the Petitioner only on 1st April 2021 via e-mail dated 1st April 2021 at 5:51 a.m. If this be the case, then the re-assessment proceedings cannot continue under the unamended provisions of Section 148 of the I.T. Act and the same would have to comply with the provisions which were brought into effect b....
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....bmits that it is an admitted position that the impugned Notice is dated 31st March 2021 and also digitally signed on 31st March 2021. The Assessing Officer had uploaded the Notice on the ITBA Portal also on 31st March 2021. The digital signature, whenever affixed, bears the real time and in the present case it bears the time of 31st March 2021 at 1:32 p.m. The ITBA system, immediately after the digital signature, in a way, ousts the Assessing Officer, who cannot make any change in the document or stop the outward transmission. Having done so, it was beyond the control of the Assessing Officer once the Notice was uploaded on the ITBA Portal and the Notice was dispatched through the ITBA Portal and intimated to the Petitioner. He thus submitt....
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....previous occasion when this matter was heard (on 16th June 2026), we requested Mr. Sharma to seek instructions in this regard and file an affidavit, if necessary. Pursuant to the same, Mr. Sharma, on written instructions from the Assessing Officer i.e. Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax 3(2)(1), Mumbai, who is Respondent No. 2, submits that as per the system delivery report, the 'Notice Sent' time stamp is reflected as 1st April 2021 at 05:51:42 a.m., while the 'Delivered' time stamp is reflected as 1st April 2021 at 05:51:47 a.m. Thus, there is no doubt that the email dispatching the impugned Notice itself was triggered on 1st April 2021 from the ITBA Portal and subsequently received by the Petitioner at 5:51 a.m. on 1st April 2021. In view....
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.... notice of the fact that the Department from May, 2022, for Notices issued on or after 1st April 2021, has considered the date and time of despatch of the notices as recorded by the ITBA portal as the date of issuance and disregarded the date of generation of notice i.e. 31-3-2021. For notices despatched on or after 1st April 2021, the Department, following the Supreme Court's order in Ashish Agarwal (supra) considered the notices as issued under section 148A of the Act of 1961. This shows that the Department itself acknowledges and admits that the date of generation is distinct from date of issuance and the Department considers the despatch by ITBA Portal as the date of issue for the purpose of Section 149 of the Act of 1961. ....
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....he Department in respect of the re-assessment has to be determined. 10. We find that the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Union of India & Ors v/s Ashish Agarwal (444 ITR 1) observed that Notices issued under the unamended law after 1st April 2021 shall be deemed to have been issued under Section 148A of the I.T. Act as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021 and treated to be Show Cause Notices in terms of Section 148A(b) of the Act. In this backdrop and following the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Ashish Agarwal (supra) we passed the following order in the case of Jose (supra): "7. In light of this authoritative pronouncement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, we dispose of the above Writ Petition by passing the same directions th....
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..... We find that the present Writ Petition can also be disposed of in similar terms. In light of the aforesaid, we now pass the following order: i. The impugned Assessment Order dated 30th March 2022, passed under Section 147 read with Section 144B, and any consequential notices / orders thereof are hereby quashed and set aside. ii. The impugned Notice under Section 148 of the I.T. Act issued to the Petitioner under the unamended Section 148 of the I. T. Act shall be deemed to be issued under Section 148A of the I.T. Act as substituted by the Finance Act, 2021 and treated to be a Show Cause Notice in terms of Section 148A(b). The Assessing Officer shall, within thirty days from the date of uploading this order, provide to th....