9911796707
TMI Blog2019 (11) TMI 878X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s of manufacture of connectors and other articles. It is an assessee under the Income Tax Act on the files of the 1st respondent. For the assessment year 2015-16, the petitioner filed its returns and as part of the assessment procedure, it was served with a S.143(2) notice on 15/04/2016. Thereafter, it was served with various notices under Section 142(1) of the Income Tax Act, requiring it to produce various documents in connection with the completion of its assessment. It is relevant to note at this stage that, with effect from 2017, as part of the Government initiative towards e-Governance, there was a move to shift to e-proceedings facility for completion of assessments. Circulars and instructions were therefore issued by the Government ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t order to the petitioner electronically on 31/12/2018 and manually on 05/1/2019. 3. As per the provisions of sub section 2 of Section 144(C), the petitioner had to file his objections to the draft assessment order, before the Dispute Resolution Panel, within 30 days of receipt by him of the draft order. It is not in dispute that the objection filed by the petitioner was received by the Dispute Resolution Panel on 01/02/2019 as is evident from Ext.P16 communication. The Dispute Resolution Panel, however, issued Ext.P17 show cause notice, asking the petitioner to show cause as to why the objection preferred by it should not be rejected on the ground that it was received by the panel more than 30 days, after the service of the draft assessm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ct. 4. A statement has been filed on behalf of the respondent wherein, the stand taken is that, in as much as the draft assessment order in electronic format was served on the petitioner assessee on 31/12/2018 / 01/01/2019, the petitioner assessee had to file its objection before the Dispute Resolution Panel by 01/02/2019. It is therefore contended that, since the objections of the assessee were admittedly filed only on 05/2/2019, the same was belated vis-aWP( vis the dispute resolution panel, as also the Assessing Officer and hence Exts.P19 and P20 orders cannot be seen as vitiated on account of any procedural error occasioned by the respondent. 5. I have heard the learned Senior counsel Sri. Joseph Markose appearing for the petitioner ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to send a manual version of the draft assessment order also to the petitioner assessee, and this was received by the petitioner on 05/01/2019. In terms of Section 144(C)(2) of the Income Tax Act, the petitioner assessee was to submit his objections to the draft assessment order within 30 days of the receipt of the same, and the said objections were to be simultaneously sent to both the Dispute Resolution Panel as also to the Assessing Officer. It is trite, that in matters involving transfer pricing, and where a reference is made to the Transfer Pricing Officer, the final assessment must await the decision of the Transfer Pricing Officer, or in applicable cases, that of the Dispute Resolution Panel. The relevant date in the instant case, wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gh the manual mode, that determines the starting point of limitation for the period of 30 days under Section 144(C)(2) of the Income Tax Act, for the petitioner to have submitted his objections before the Dispute Resolution Panel. On reckoning the period of 30 days from 05/01/2019 as aforesaid, I find that the objection filed by the petitioner on 01/02/2019 before the Dispute Resolution Panel was within time. Ext.P19 order of the Dispute Resolution Panel must, on that reasoning, be set aside and I do so. As already noticed, in matters involving transfer pricing, the assessment order by the Assessing Officer must necessarily follow the findings of the Dispute Resolution Panel and hence, based on the finding that Ext.P19 order of the Dispute ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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