PANKAJ ENTERPRISES PVT. LTD.,NEW DELHI V. INCOME TAX OFFICER, DELHI

CO 83/DEL/2025

AI Insights

The case involves an appeal by the Income Tax Officer against Pankaj Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., concerning an assessment order for the Assessment Year 2015-16. The primary legal contention was the validity of a notice issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, which the assessee argued was time-barred. The notice was allegedly received by the assessee on 01.04.2021, which was beyond the statutory deadline. The Tribunal examined the electronic communication of the notice and determined that it was indeed dispatched beyond the allowable time frame, leading to the quashing of the assessment order.

• Counselvise Citation: [2025] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 792453 (ITAT-DELHI)
• Duration Of Justice: 5 month(s) 4 day(s)
• Appeal Type: Cross Objection
• Pronouncement Date: 05-12-2025
• Appeal Filed By: Assessee
• Order Result: Allowed
• Bench Allotted: A
• Assessment Year: 2015-2016
• Appeal Filed On: 01-07-2025
• Laws Referred To: Income Tax Act, 1961, Information Technology Act, 2000
• Result in Favour of: Assessee
• Court: TRIBUNAL
• Department Lawyers: KRISHNA KUMAR RAMAWAT
• Assessee Lawyers: SHILPI JAIN
• Section: 147; 148

Judgement Text

"P a g e | 1 ITA No. 4188/Del/2024 CO 83/Del/2025 Pankaj Enterprises Pvt. Ld. (AY: 2015-16) IN THE INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL “A” BENCH, DELHI BEFORE SHRI ANUBHAV SHARMA, JUDICIAL MEMBER & SHRI MANISH AGARWAL, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER ITA No.4188/Del/2024 (Assessment Year:2015-16) Income Tax Officer Room No.217, CR Building, New Delhi – 110002 Vs. Pankaj Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., 130, First Floor, D-Mall, Netaji Subhash Place, Pitampura, Saraswati Vihar, North West Delhi, Delhi - 110034 \u0001थायीलेखासं./जीआइआरसं./PAN/GIR No: AABCP9429N Appellant .. Respondent C.O. No.83/Del/2025 (Assessment Year:2015-16) Pankaj Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., 130, First Floor, D-Mall, Netaji Subhash Place, Pitampura, Saraswati Vihar, North West Delhi, Delhi - 110034 Vs. ITO, Ward 19(3) Room No.217, CR Building, New Delhi – 110002 \u0001थायीलेखासं./जीआइआरसं./PAN/GIR No: AABCP9429N Appellant .. Respondent Appellant by : Ms. Shilpi Jain, CA Respondent by : Sh. Krishna Kumar Ramawat, Sr. DR Printed from counselvise.com P a g e | 2 ITA No. 4188/Del/2024 CO 83/Del/2025 Pankaj Enterprises Pvt. Ld. (AY: 2015-16) Date of Hearing 01.12.2025 Date of Pronouncement 05.12.2025 O R D E R PER ANUBHAV SHARMA, JM: This appeal is preferred by the Revenue and Cross Objection filed by the assessee against the order dated 09.08.2024 of the Ld. National Faceless Appeal Centre (NFAC) (hereinafter referred as Ld. First Appellate Authority or in short Ld. ‘FAA’) in DIN & Order No: ITBA/NFAC/S/250/2024- 25/1067495496(1) arising out of the order dated 30.03.2022 passed u/s 147 r.w.s 144B of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) by the ITO, Ward 19(3) New Delhi for AY: 2015-16. 2. On hearing both sides we find that assessee has raised a legal ground No. 1 that the assessment order passed by the AO is invalid as a notice under Section 148 of the Act dated 31.03.2021 is time barred. 3. Although ld. DR has defended the ground however what is material is that the evidence by way of screen shot of email received by the assessee Printed from counselvise.com P a g e | 3 ITA No. 4188/Del/2024 CO 83/Del/2025 Pankaj Enterprises Pvt. Ld. (AY: 2015-16) serving notice under Section 148 of the Act on the assessee available at page 19.1 of the paper book goes to show that as on 01.04.2021 at 7:06AM the notice was received by the assessee as an attachment to the computer generated communication. In this email it is mentioned that communication may treated as compliant with the requirement of Income Tax Rules 127 & 127A. Now the same has to be read with Section 282(1) of the Act. Subsection (1) (c) of Section 282 of the Act provides that a communication may be transmitted in the form of electronic record as provided in Chapter (iv) of Information Technology Act, 2000. Section 13 of the Information Technology Act provides for time and place of dispatch and receipt of electronic record and sub-section (1) provides that “Save as otherwise agreed to between the originator and the addressee, the dispatch of an electronic record occurs when it enters a computer resource outside the control of the originator.” 4. Thus, when the mail is received by assessee on 01.04.2021 at 7:06AM on through ITBA portal which for all purposes is ‘computer resources’ then the dispatch of the electronic record, i.e the notice attached to mail in PDF, can be considered to be ‘dispatched” on 01.04.2021 at 7:06AM, so as to be Printed from counselvise.com P a g e | 4 ITA No. 4188/Del/2024 CO 83/Del/2025 Pankaj Enterprises Pvt. Ld. (AY: 2015-16) outside the control originator i.e. AO. Thus as the notice u/s 148 of the Act, was served on the assessee beyond the limitation we are inclined to sustain the legal ground No. 1 raised by the assessee and consequently, the Cross Objection of the assessee is allowed. The assessment order is liable to be quashed. Accordingly, ordered. The appeal of the revenue stands dismissed. Order pronounced in the open court on 05.12.2025 Sd/- (Manish Agarwal) Sd/- (Anubhav Sharma) ACCOUNTANT MEMBER JUDICIAL MEMBER Dated 05.12.2025 Rohit, Sr. PS Copy forwarded to: 1. Appellant 2. Respondent 3. CIT 4. CIT(Appeals) 5. DR: ITAT ASSISTANT REGISTRAR ITAT NEW DELHI Printed from counselvise.com "