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2021 (10) TMI 679 - AT - Income TaxDismissing the appeal of the assessee against the draft order as not maintainable - Whether draft order cannot be assailed before CIT(A)? - HELD THAT:- As the assessee preferred appeal against the draft order, in our considered opinion, the ld. CIT(A) was fully justified in dismissing the same as not maintainable. It is an altogether different matter that there was a mistake on the part of the AO in passing draft order by wrongly mentioning it as the completion of assessment u/s.144C(13), which gave an impression to assessee that the order passed by the AO was not a draft order but final appealable order. The consequences flowing from the wrong mentioning of section 144C(13) in the draft order, including the assessee later on unsuccessfully attempting to file appeal against the final order u/s.143(3) r.w.s. 144C(3) during the pendency of appeal filed against the draft order, though may constitute a bona fide reason for the belated filing of appeal before the ld. CIT(A) against the order passed u/s.143(3) r.w.s. 144C(3), but cannot legally validate the appeal filed against the draft order so as to warrant its adjudication on merits by the ld. first appellate authority. It is only the appeal filed by the assessee against the order u/s 144C(3) passed by the AO on 23.01.2020 that an effective and legally tenable appeal would call for decision. In our considered opinion, the ld. CIT(A) took an unimpeachable view in treating the appeal against the draft order as ‘defective’ and thus ‘not maintainable’.
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