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TMI Blog2020 (3) TMI 1453X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed order passed under section 143(3) r.w.s. 144C(13) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is barred by limitation. 1.2 The Assessing Officer has erred in passing a draft assessment order dated 29th December, 2017, under section 143(3) r.w.s. 144C(1) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 in the instant case. 1.3 The appellant submits that considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the law prevailing on the subject, the draft assessment order dated 29thDecember 2017 passed in its case for the year under consideration was incorrect, illegal and void ab initio and the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) ought to have held as such. 1.4 The appellant submits that the impugned order be struck down as void ab initio and bad in law. Without prejudice t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not the form 35A in original. As to the signed copy that the assessee subsequently filed, the same was declined on the ground that the said copy was filed after the due date and the DRP did not have the powers to condone the delay. As we have noted earlier, the final assessment order, pursuant to the DRP order, was framed on 30th October 2018. The assessee is aggrieved of the final assessment order so passed and in appeal before us. 4. We have heard the rival contentions, perused the material on record and duly considered facts of the case in the light of the applicable legal position. 5. Learned counsel's plea before us is two fold- first, that the DRP ought to have examined the matter on merits, and, for this reason alone, the impugned ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is whether or not the Assessing Officer was justified in passing a draft assessment order on the facts of this case, and, whether, the fact that the assessee chose to issue the draft assessment order, even though he was not required to pass the draft assessment order, would result in affecting the normal time limit within which the normal assessment order under section 143(3) is to be issued. 4. We have heard the rival submissions, perused the material on record and duly considered facts of the case in the light of the applicable legal position. 5. So far as the first issue is concerned, we find that, in the present case, there are no variations in the returned income and the assessee income. The controversy is thus confined to the ques ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... returned by the assessee. There is, therefore, no question of a draft assessment order being issued in this case. It is also important to note that the Finance Bill proposes to make the issuance of draft assessment orders in the case of eligible assessees mandatory even when there is no variation in the income or loss returned by the assessee but then this amendment seeks to amend the law with effect from 1st April 2020. Explaining this amendment, Memorandum Explaining Amendments in the Finance Bill 2020 states as follows: Amendment in Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP). Section 144C of the Act provides that in case of certain eligible assessees, viz., foreign companies and any person in whose case transfer pricing adjustments have been ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on this point. 7. Coming to the second point, we find that there is no dispute that if no draft assessment order was to be issued in this case, the assessment would have been time barred on 31st December 2017 but the present assessment order is passed on 17th August 2018. Once we hold that no draft assessment order could have been issued in this case, as the provisions of Section 144C(1) could not have been invoked in this case, the time limit of completion of assessment was available only upto 31st December 2017. The mere issuance of draft assessment order, when it was legally not required to be issued, cannot end up enhancing the time limit for completing the assessment under section 143(3). We, therefore, uphold the plea of the assess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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