TMI Blog2019 (11) TMI 878X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ions filed by the petitioner on 1/2/2019 was within the time contemplated under Section 144(C) of the Income Tax Act. When the petitioner had not opted for the e-proceeding facility, and had chosen to have its assessment proceedings continued in the manual mode, the receipt of the draft assessment order in the manual mode has to be seen as the date of service of the draft assessment order. This would be so because, an assessee that did not opt for the electronic mode for the completion of his assessment proceedings, virtually expresses his lack of confidence in the said facility and thereby chooses to opt for the manual facility in which he reposes greater confidence. Till such time as the electronic facility is made mandatory for assessees, therefore, the wishes of the assessee have necessarily to be respected by the department. It would also be an aspect of fairness in tax administration that the assessee is not prejudiced on account of service of an order, through a mode that he did not opt for. This court must also remind itself that, in the event of an ambiguity in construing the provisions in a taxing statute, it has to take a view that favours the assessee. It is the r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... her 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 of India, Ministry of Finance, in the Department of Revenue, requesting assessees to switch over to the e-proceedings facility available on the integrated platform provided through the Income Tax Business Application project, for completion of their assessments under the Income Tax Act. 2. The e-proceeding facility was introduced initially in seven metro cities, where the said facility was made mandatory for assessees. In Cochin, the e-proceeding facility was permitt ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng Authority passed an assessment order without taking note of the objection filed by the petitioner to the draft assessment order. This was probably on account of the fact that a copy of the objection filed by the assessee to the draft assessment order on 01/02/2019 before the Dispute Resolution Panel was received by the Assessing Authority only on 05/02/2019, which was beyond the period of 30 days from 05/01/2019, the date on which the draft assessment order in manual mode was served on the petitioner assessee. In the writ petition, Ext.P19 order of the dispute resolution panel, and Ext. P20 order of assessment are impugned, inter alia on the contention that the Dispute Resolution Panel, as well as the Assessing Authority, ought to have considered the objections filed by the petitioner to the draft assessment order before completing the assessment of the petitioner under the Act. 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 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 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, which involved a reference to the transfer pricing officer, has to be the date on which the objections were received by the Dispute Resolution Panel and the question to be answered is whether, the objections filed by the petitioner on 1/2/2019 was within the time contemplated under Section 144(C) of the Income Tax Act. 6. In my view, when the petitioner had not opted for the e-proceeding facility, and had chosen to have its assessment proceedings continued in the manual mode, the receipt of the draft assessment order in the manual mode has to be seen as the date of service of the draft assessment order. This would be so because, an assessee that did not opt for the electronic mode for the completion of his assessment proceedings, virtually expresses his lack of confidence in the said facility and thereby chooses to opt for the manual facility in which h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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