In ITA No. 401/PUN/2022 -ITAT- ITAT (Pune) declares Assessment order invalid for non-quoting of DIN
Members G.D. Padmahshali (Accountant) & S.S. Viswanethra Ravi (Judicial) [04-07-2023]

Read Order: Prabhakar Amruta Shillak v. Income Tax Officer

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, July 10, 2023: The Pune bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has recently nullified an assessment order, as it was not issued with the Document Identification Number (DIN) mentioned in the body. The Tribunal ruled that the assessment order should be considered as if it was never issued, making it ineffective in the eyes of the law. As a result, further examination of the case's merits was deemed unnecessary.

During the physical hearing, the counsel representing the assessee had raised an oral legal ground challenging the validity of the assessment. The challenge was based on Circular No. 19/2019 issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). On the other hand, the counsel for the revenue objected to the admission of the oral legal ground and argued that the assessment order did have a Document Control Register (DCR) number, indicating that a corresponding Document Identification Number (DIN) shave been generated in compliance with the CBDT Circular. However, the DIN was not quoted in the body of the assessment order when it was communicated to the assessee.

The bench held that that the legal ground raised by the assessee during the appeal was fundamental to the case and did not require any new investigation or verification of facts. Therefore, the bench determined that the legal ground should be admitted based on the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of National Thermal Power Company Limited v. Commissioner of Income Tax [LQ/SC/1996/2109].

The bench observed that the Delhi High Court had addressed a similar issue in the case of The Commissioner of Income Tax (International Taxation)-1, New Delhi v. Brandix Mauritius Holdings Ltd [LQ/DelHC/2023/2729], where it held that any communication related to assessments, appeals, orders, etc., mentioned in paragraph 2 of the 2019 circular, but without the DIN, would not hold any legal standing.

The bench noted that the assessment order in question did not contain a DIN in its body, which amounted to a violation of Para-2 of the CBDT Circular. Additionally, the Revenue could not provide any evidence to show that the case of the assessee fell within any of the five exceptional circumstances mentioned in Para-3 of the Circular. Furthermore, there were no accompanying documents to establish the regularisation of the earlier manual issuance of communication in terms of Para-5 of the Circular. Consequently, the bench ruled that the communication of the assessment order was invalid and as if it had never been issued to the assessee.