S. 148 Income Tax Act| Notice Without DIN, Not Invalid, If Assesee Responds To Manual Notices: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court had held that mere non-issuance of notices with DIN will not render them invalid if the petitioner has otherwise participated in the proceedings based on manual notices.

Petitioner challenged the re-assessment order on the ground that notice under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 was issued manually in violation of the circular issued by the Department. The notices ought to have been issued by applying the document identification number (DIN).

Per contra, Revenue contended that the petitioner had participated in the re-assessment proceedings, and the order impugned had been passed after due consideration of the reply file.

The bench comprising of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Syed Aftab Husain Rizvi held since the petitioner had participated in the proceedings, a challenge, if any, to the re-assessment order could be made before the Appellate Authority.

“The main argument is that the order is without jurisdiction since notices were not issued on DIN. This argument is noticed only to be rejected since no prejudice is shown to have been caused to the petitioner on account of issuance of manual notices. Admittedly, the petitioner has acknowledged receipt of such notice and has also submitted his objections, which have been duly adverted to. Non-issuance of notice on DIN would thus not be a ground to entertain the writ petition, notwithstanding the availability of alternative remedy.”

Accordingly, the writ petition was dismissed.

Case Title: Chandra Bhan vs. Union Of India And Another [Writ Tax No. - 829 of 2023]

Case Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (AB) 258

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