Bombay High Court
Milind Dashrath Pawar vs National Faceless Assessment Centre … on 6 July, 2026
Author: B. P. Colabawalla
Bench: B. P. Colabawalla
26 wp4539-23.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION NO.4539 OF 2023
Milind Dashrath Pawar .. Petitioner
TRUSHA Versus
TUSHAR
MOHITE
Digitally signed by
TRUSHA TUSHAR
National Faceless Assessment Centre,
MOHITE
Date: 2026.07.08
16:11:46 +0530 Delhi (NFAC) & Ors. .. Respondents
Mr.Vasudev Ginde i/b Mr.Kumar Kale, Advocate for the Petitioner.
Mr.Akhileshwar Sharma, Advocate for the Respondents(through V.C.).
CORAM: B. P. COLABAWALLA &
FIRDOSH P. POONIWALLA, JJ.
DATE: JULY 06, 2026
P. C.
1. Rule. With consent of parties, Rule made returnable forthwith
and heard finally.
2. By this Writ Petition, the Petitioner challenges the validity of the
Assessment Order passed under Section 147, read with Sections 144 and
144B, of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (‘The Act‘), dated 13th April 2022 (digitally
signed on 26th May 2022), passed by Respondent No.1 for Assessment Year
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2014-15. The only ground of challenge is that the Assessment Order is barred
by limitation.
3. Briefly stated, the facts of the case are that a notice under Section
148 of the Act, dated 17th July 2019, was issued by Respondent No.2
reopening the Petitioner’s assessment for Assessment Year 2014-15. Several
notices under Section 142(1) of the Act were issued in the Petitioner’s case
from time to time, followed by Show Cause Notices dated 11 th September
2021 and 31st March 2022. Eventually, Respondent No.1 passed the
impugned order dated 13th April 2022 but digitally signed by him on 26 th
May 2022 and served upon the Petitioner via email dated 26 th May 2022.
According to the Petitioner, the said order having been passed on 26 th May
2022, is barred by limitation.
4. In this factual backdrop, the learned Counsel appearing for the
Petitioner submits that as per the provisions of Section 153(2) of the Act, an
Assessment Order under Section 147 is required to be passed within twelve
months from the end of the Financial Year in which notice under Section 148
is served on the Assessee. The learned Counsel submits that in the
Petitioner’s case, the said Notice having been issued on 17 July 2019, the last
date to pass the Assessment Order was 31 st March 2021. The learned Counsel
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further submits that in view of Notification No. 10 of 2021 dated 27 th
February 2021 issued under Section 3(1) of the Taxation and Other Laws
(Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 (“TOLA”), this
time limit was extended up to 30 th September 2021. Before this date of
expiry, on 24th September 2021, Respondent No.1 made a reference under
Section 142A of the Act to the Assistant Valuation Officer, Thane (‘DVO’) to
assess the fair market value of the Petitioner’s land as on 1 st April 2001. The
DVO issued the valuation report bearing a date of 16 th February 2022.
Therefore, as per clause (v) of Explanation-1 to Section 153, the period
commencing from the date on which the Assessing Officer made a reference
to the Valuation Officer under Section 142A(1) and ending with the date on
which the report of the Valuation Officer is received by the Assessing Officer,
would have to be excluded in computing the period of limitation.
Accordingly, the period from 24th September 2021 to 16th February 2022
shall stand excluded. However, having excluded this period, only 6 days
would be left for Respondent No.1 to pass the Assessment Order, and this
period being less than 60 days, it would get extended by 60 days from 16 th
February 2022 as per the first proviso to Explanation-1 to Section 153. The
learned Counsel for the Petitioner, however, clarified that the exact date
when the valuation report was received by Respondent No.1 is not
ascertainable either from the impugned order or the Affidavits in Reply dated
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31st August 2023 and 25th September 2023 filed by Respondent No.2. The
learned Counsel therefore, submits that the last date to pass an Order under
Section 147 was 17th April 2022, and though the impugned order is dated 13 th
April 2022, it having been digitally signed by Respondent No.1 on 26 th May
2022, is clearly beyond the limitation period, and therefore bad in law.
5. Summarizing the above submissions, the learned Counsel for the
Petitioner submitted a list of dates and events as under:
Sr. Event Date of Remarks, if any
No. Event
1. Date of service of notice u/s. 17.07.2019 -
148
2. Time Limit to pass Assessment Twelve months from the end of
Order u/s. 147 as per 31.03.2021 the Financial Yearin which
provisions of section 153(2) notice u/s. 148 is served.
3. Extension of the limitation at As per TOLA read with
Sr. No.2 as per TOLA 30.09.2021 Notification No. 10 of 2021 dated
27.02.2021
4. Date of reference to DVO u/s.
142A of the Act 24.09.2021 -
5. Date of finalization of report by
DVO 16.02.2022 -
6. Time to be excluded for 24.09.2021 Clause (v) of Explanation - 1 to
computing limitation period to section 153
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16.02.2022
(145 days)
7. Extended period of limitation 22.02.2022 145 days from 30.09.2021
8. No. of days left for AO to 6 days (16.02.2022 to 22.02.2022)
complete assessment as on
16.02.2022
9. Further extended limitation 17.04.2022 (60 days from 16.02.2022)
period as per 1st proviso to
Explanation - 1 to section 153
10. Date of passing of Assessment 26.05.2022 Barred by Limitation
Order u/s. 147
6. In this case, the most crucial fact to determine the period of
limitation is the actual date on which Respondent No.1 received the valuation
report of the DVO. On a query raised by us, Mr. Akhileshwar Sharma, the
learned Counsel appearing for the Revenue, submitted that, as per the
written instructions received by him from the Income Tax Officer 2(2)
Kalyan, who is Respondent No. 2, the DVO’s report dated 16 th February 2022
was received on 25th February 2022 in the worklist. Mr. Sharma, however,
submits that the impugned Assessment Order is dated 13 th April 2022 and
bears the DIN also, which is within the limitation period, though it is digitally
signed on 26 May 2022.
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7. We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties and also
perused the papers and proceedings in the above Writ Petition. The short
issue for our consideration is as to when the limitation period in this case
expired. It is the Petitioner’s case that the same expired on 17 th April 2022, as
explained in the Table set out in paragraph (5) above, which is based on the
date of the valuation report. But having regard to the fact admitted by Mr.
Sharma, appearing on behalf for the Respondents, that Respondent No.1
received the valuation report on 25th February 2022, the sixty days limitation
period available for passing the Assessment Order would expire on 26 th April
2022, which is much before the date on which the Assessment Order was
digitally signed on 26th May 2022. In our view, the fact that the impugned
order is dated 13th April 2022 is of no consequence, when it was actually
signed on 26th May 2022. The Assessment Order would come into operation
only upon its signing and not the date on which it was prepared. We are,
therefore, of the considered view that the impugned order is clearly barred by
limitation, and thus, bad in law, and is required to be quashed and set aside.
8. We, therefore, quash and set aside the impugned order dated 13 th
April 2022 (digitally signed on 26th May 2022) passed by Respondent No.1
and all consequential orders/proceedings emanating therefrom, and allow
this Writ Petition in terms of Prayer Clause (a), which reads as thus:
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26 wp4539-23.doc“(a) that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a Writ
of Certiorari or a Writ in the nature of Certiorari or any other
appropriate Writ, Order or direction, calling for the records of
the Petitioner’s case and after going into the legality and
propriety thereof, to quash and set aside the impugned
Assessment Order passed on 26.05.2022 under section 147 read
with section 144 read with section 144B of the Act (Exhibit
“M”), the notice of demand issued on 26.05.2022 under section
156 of the Act (Exhibit “N”), the notice issued on 26.05.2022
under section 274 read with section 271(1)(c) of the Act (Exhibit
“O”), penalty order passed on 23.02.2023 u/s. 271(1)(c) of the
Act (Exhibit “P”) and the notice of demand issued on
23.02.2023 under section 156 of the Act (Exhibit “Q”).”
9. Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms and the Writ
Petition also stands disposed of in terms thereof. However, there shall be no
order as to costs.
10. This order will be digitally signed by the Private Secretary/
Personal Assistant of this Court. All concerned will act on production by fax
or email of a digitally signed copy of this order.
[FIRDOSH P. POONIWALLA, J.] [B. P. COLABAWALLA, J.]
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