The tribunal underscored the necessity for accurate acknowledgment of procedures under Rule 27 to maintain the right for future challenges.

आदशे/ORDER

PER ANNAPURNA GUPTA, ACCOUNTANT MEMBER:

Vide the present application filed u/s 254(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 , (hereinafter referred to as “Act” in short) the assessee seeks rectification in the order passed by the ITA T in appeal in ITA No.2422/Ahd/2018 dated 06.10.2023.

2. The mistake pointed out in the order of the ITAT is to the effect of having not dealt with the application filed by the assessee under Rule 27 of the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963 . It was pointed out that as per the said Rule 27 the respondent in an appeal can support the order appealed against on any ground decided against it. Ld. Counsel for the assessee pointed out that in the Revenues appeal before the ITAT against order passed by the Ld.CIT(A) in favour of the assessee on the merits of the issue involved the assessee had invoked Rule 27 of the ITAT rules, 1963 on the ground decided against it vis a vis the validity of the reassessment proceedings in the case of the assessee. The application further states that during the course of hearing in the departments appeal it was orally submitted by the ld. Counsel for the assessee before the Bench that since the issue on merits was decided in favour of the assessee, it was not necessary to decide the issue raised in the application filed under Rule 27 of the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules. Ld. Counsel for the assessee stated that a mere mention of the fact of the assessee having challenged the validity of the reassessment proceedings vide its application under Rule 27 of ITAT Rules would suffice so as to give assessee the liberty to challenge the same in future if need be. The ld. DR did not object to the same.

3. We have considered the pleadings made by the ld. Counsel for the assessee before us and also gone through the records of the proceedings before us. Undoubtedly, the assessee did raise a challenge to the validity of the re- assessment proceedings vide an application filed under Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules, but the same was inadvertently missed out to be considered or for that matter being mentioned in the order passed by the ITAT in the Revenue’s appeal before it. In view of the specific prayer of the ld. Counsel for the assessee before us for only mentioning the fact of the assessee having filed an application under Rule 27 of the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules challenging the validity of the re-assessment proceeding, we therefore add the following to the order passed by the Tribunal vide order dated 06.10.2023.

“The assessee before us has challenged the validity of the re-assessment proceedings vide an application filed under Rule 27 of the Income-tax (Appellate Tribunal) Rules, 1963 . The contents of the said application read as under:-

“June 28, 2023

To,

The Registrar

The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal "A" Bench Ahmedabad

Respected Sir,

Reg: Deloitte Haskins and Sells. Ahmedabad, PAN: AABFD7919A

Ref: Appeal No. Department's Appeal No. ITA 2422/AHD/2018 for AY 2012-13

Sub: Intimation re: invocation of rule 27 of ITAT Rules 1963

The aforesaid appeal has been filed by the Department against the order dated 26-10-2018 passed by the CIT(A), wherein Ground No. 2 raised before the CIT(A) challenging the reassessment proceedings was decided against us. The CIT(A) however decided the merits in our favour.

As a respondent in the abovementioned Departmental Appeal, we wish to support the Appellate Order on the aforesaid ground no. 2 decided against us under Rule 27 of the ITAT Rules.

We request you to kindly place this letter before the Hon'ble Bench. A copy of this letter is being separately sent to the learned Departmental Representative as advance notice of our intention to invoke Rule 27.

Thanking you

Yours faithfully

Deloitte Haskins & Sells

Sd/-

(Ga