WHETHER ORDER WITHOUT SIGNATURE OF A.O. IS A PROCEDURAL FLAW THAT CAN BE CURED SUBSEQUENTLY?

Respected Members

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WHETHER ORDER WITHOUT SIGNATURE OF A.O. IS A PROCEDURAL FLAW THAT CAN BE CURED SUBSEQUENTLY?

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Short note of today's case law for quick reference:

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[2024] 110 ITR (Trib) 609 (ITAT[Mum])

[BEFORE THE INCOME-TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL — MUMBAI "I" BENCH]

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REUTERS ASIA PACIFIC LTD.

(successor on amalgamation to Reuter Television Mauritius Ltd.)

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DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX (INTERNATIONAL TAXATION)

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1. Assessment order was generated on 03.02.2021 and communicated to the assessee through e-mail on 19.02.2021 i.e. almost after two weeks from the date of generation of order.

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2. Assessee was also challenging the assessment order on the ground that the order did not bear the signature of the A.O.

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3. To sign the assessment order digitally the steps to be followed by the A.O. are meticulously given in instruction No. 6 dated 03.10.2017.

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4. The signing of assessment order is an integrated process of order generation in e-assessment.

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5. The assessment proceedings conclude only after the order is digitally signed.

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6. The importance of signing the assessment order cannot be undermined.

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7. The date of signature of order shall be date of passing of the order.

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8. Order 20, Rule 3 of the code of civil procedure, 1908 mandates that judgement shall be dated and signed by the judge at the time of pronouncing it and once signed, shall not afterwards be altered.

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9. It is not a curable defect that can be fixed by signing the order after service thereof.

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10. Framing the assessment is a quasi-Judicial function.

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11. 282A(1) makes it obligatory that where any notice or other document be required to be issued, it shall be signed and issued by the competent authority in accordance with the procedure prescribed.

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12. The Board has issued instructions from time to time laying down the procedure, inter alia for signing of notices and assessment orders.

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13. Section 282A(2) explains the connotation of expression “authentication”

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14. Thus signing a document and authentication of the document carry different meanings.

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15. Signing of a document denotes committing to the document, whereas authentication of the document relates to the genuineness of the origin of the document.

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16. If signing and authentication meant the same thing, then there was no need for the legislature to lay down the requirement of signing documents, viz, notices, orders in 282A(1) and explain the purpose of authentication in section 282A(2).

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17. The provisions of section 282A(1) would become redundant.

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18. The assessee challenged the order on the ground that the order did not contain the signature of the A.O.

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19. The revenue contended that assessment order was signed manually on the same date i.e. 03.02.2021 before issuance on ITBA portal, that due to some technical issue the assessment order was not digitally signed while uploading on portal.

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20. The assessment order on portal was not signed either manually or digitally.

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21. Revenue contended that service of unsigned order to the assessee was a merely a procedural defect that could be rectified.

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22. Revenue contended that addition made in the draft assessment order and final assessment order were the same, that the draft assessment had been duly signed by the A.O. and the addition made in the D.A.O had been upheld by the DRP, and thereof, no prejudice was caused to the assessee.

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23. Section 292B cures procedural defects or omissions only.

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24. The section does not grant immunity from failure to comply with statutory provisions.

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25. Not signing assessment order is not a procedural defect or flaw that can be cured subsequently.

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26. The order is complete only when it is signed and released.

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27. The date on which the order is signed by the A.O. is the date of the order.

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28. If the A.O. will be allowed to sign the order later, still the order would suffer from the defect of limitation and would be without jurisdiction.