TMI Blog2023 (12) TMI 706X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ected by taking recourse of section 292B of the Act. The Hon ble Delhi High Court explained the binding effect of CBDT Circular and held that in the light of CBDT Circular, any communication issued by any Income-tax Authority relating to assessment, appeals, orders, statutory or otherwise, explanations, enquiry, investigation, verification of information, penalty, prosecution, rectification, approval etc. to the assessee or any other person on or after the first day of October, 2019 shall have no standing in law unless a computer generated Document Identification Number (DIN) has been allotted and is duly reflected in the body of such communication subject to exceptional circumstances referred to in para 3 of CBDT Circular. It is an admitted position that the approval granted u/s 153D by the Addl. CIT to the draft assessment order is without issuance of DIN. The approval under section 153D which is the fulcrum for passing final assessment order dated 19.02.2021 in question is thus apparently non-est in law in the absence of DIN allocated to such communication at all. The final assessment order so passed under s. 153A in question on the basis of such invalid and non-est a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Requisite condition of Circular No.19 of 2019 for communicating/recording mandatory computer generated Document Identification Number on the order/notice of demand under section 156 have not been fulfilled. 4. The assessee also moved another application dated 09.02.2022 for admission of yet another additional ground under Rule 11 of the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963 and sought leave of the Tribunal for admission of the additional ground, which reads as under: That the order dated 28.08.2021 passed u/s 250 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 by the Ld. Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals) 23, New Delhi is against law and facts on the file in as much as he was not justified to uphold the validity of assessment framed by the Ld AO since the same is bad in law in as much as the approval granted by the Ld. ACIT under section 153D of the Act before passing the impugned assessment order was mechanical in nature and thus the whole assessment is liable to be quashed. 5. The prayer for admission of additional grounds noted above which are not set forth in the memorandum of appeal are being admitted for adjudication in terms of Rule 11 of Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 9. The judgments referred include: CIT vs. Brandix Mauritius Holdings Ltd. 149 taxmann.com 238 (del.)/456 ITR 34 (Delhi) : It is the specific requirement under Circular 2019 to quote DIN in the body of communication. Existence of Exceptional circumstances provided in para 3 of the Circular not demonstrated by revenue. Communication of order issued without conformity of Circular invalid. Failure to generate and allocate DIN is not a mere mistake or omission or a procedural irregularity. Recourse to Section 292B is not available for non-adherence to the Board Circular on mentioning DIN Ashok Commercial Enterprises vs. ACIT, Writ Petition No.2595 of 2021, Bombay High Court : HC noted Circular 19 of 2019 to observe that the assessment order does not bear a DIN and further that the order issued without a DIN is not issued in required format as set out in paragraph 3 of the Circular and, therefore, ought to be treated as invalid and deem ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Center Trust vs. CIT (Exemption), ITA No.238/Kol/2021 Kolkata, ITAT : The order passed u/s 263 not in conformity with CBDT Circular and consequently invalid and deemed to never have been issued. Pratap Singh Yadav vs. DCIT, ITA No.1898/Del/2022, Delhi ITAT : Since the DIN is not mentioned in the body of the order and generated subsequently, it is in violation of the Board Circular. Dilip Kothari vs. PCIT, ITA No.403 to 405/Bang/2022, Bangalore ITAT : Order u/s 263 is without DIN and therefore in violation of the Board Circular and therefore the order is quashed. Intrado EC India Pvt. Ltd. Vs DCIT, ITA No.239/Bang/2021, Bangalore ITAT : We are unable to appreciate this decision of the DRP, since there is no provision in the Act to issue two order u/s 92CA and the order issued subs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 10. On similar footing, the learned Counsel pointed out that the notice of demand under section 156 also does not bear DIN and consequently, the assessment order without notice of demand is yet legal infirmity which blunts the validity of assessment order and such order rendered without any formal decree of recovery. 11. The learned DR for the Revenue on the other hand vehemently objected to the aforesaid challenge raised on account of non mentioning of DIN and submitted that mere non quoting of DIN on internal communications between the Assessing Officer and Addl. Commissioner seeking approval under section 153D is not fatal in itself to render the whole assessment process as invalid proceeding. The learned DR submitted that such approval and internal communications are part and parcel of integrated assessment process and cannot be seen in isolation. The learned DR submitted that the assessment order dated 19.12.2021 in question itself bear on DIN in compliance of Circular dated 14.08.2019 of CBDT. As pointed out, the DIN is quoted a letter dated 20.12.2021 addressed to the assessee and reads as under: This is to inform you that an order under sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h may appreciate that in the Central Circle, the Order and Notice of Demand were signed manually and DIN generated on the System a process involving technology as well as manual action. In such an interface some such minor issues in procedure are only natural which in no way violates the CBDT's Circular. As for the Ld. Counsel for the appellant's contention that the approval letter of the Addl. CIT of the concerned Range does not bear DIN and that makes it defective, it is humbly submitted that the entire assessment process in Search cases, which includes the approval of the Range Head, is one integrated process and not a separate compartment/component. The Order of the Assessing Officer (below the rank of JCIT) is rendered valid only with the approval of the Addl./JCIT concerned as per Section 153D of the Income-tax, Act. The DIN is generated for the Assessment Order. Also, such letter being referred to by the Ld. Counsel of the appellant is in the nature of internal correspondence of the Department, from Range Head to the Assessing Officer which requires no DIN. In fact, the Range Head has himself /herself directed the AO in the letter that 'no Order sha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essment order and the Notice of demand under section 156 of the Act which may have been manually signed by the AO, were generated and issued with the DIN in real time on 20.12.2021. The ld. DR thus essentially submits that substantial compliance of CBDT circular is apparently discernible from facts on record and no adverse inference is thus called for such procedural lapse, if any. 14. We have considered the rival submissions on the additional ground raised towards non quoting of DIN. It is desirable to prioritize adjudication of legal objection on invalidity of assessment order attributable to alleged infringement of CBDT circular since such objections are overwhelming and goes to the root of the matter. 15. The CBDT Circular no. 19/2019 casts obligations that every income tax authority shall allot a new computer generated Document Identification Number (DIN)in respect of every communication by way of notice, order, letter or any correspondence issued by him to any other income tax authority or assessee or any other person and such number should be quoted thereon. Para 2 of the Circular reads as ; In order to prevent such instances and to maintain proper audit trail of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aring, has also echoed the similar view in line with the judgment in the case of Brandix . In that case, revisional order under s. 263 of the Act was passed without DIN in the body of revision order. Tribunal upon examination of facts held that order passed under section 263 did not incorporate Document Identification Number (DIN) and was thus in violation of Circular No. 19 of 2019, dated 14-8-2019 which stated that any communication which was not in conformity with said Circular shall be treated as invalid and shall be deemed to have never been issued - On appeal to High Court, revenue submitted that intimation letter should be treated as part and parcel of substantive order, however, in the intimation letter there was nothing mentioned as to why in substantive order DIN was not mentioned as mandated in Circular - In Miscellaneous Application proceedings, revenue could not answer a specific query as to how a DIN intimation letter along with manual order fulfils categorical requirement mandated by CBDT Circular and therefore, Tribunal came to conclusion that order passed under section 263 did not satisfy requirement mandated by CBDT Circular In such backdrop, the Hon ble High Co ..... 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