Unsigned Reassessment Notice Are Void Ab Initio: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has held that unsigned reassessment notice void ab initio and quashed all consequential assessment and penalty proceedings. The bench of Justice B. P. Colabawalla and Justice Firdosh P. Pooniwalla has observed that an unsigned notice—neither manually nor digitally authenticated—is invalid in law and does not confer jurisdiction on the Assessing Officer to reopen an assessment. The writ petition challenged a reassessment notice dated March 31, 2021, issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act for Assessment Year 2014–15. The petitioner also assailed the consequential ex parte reassessment order passed under Section 147, penalty orders issued under Sections 271(1)(b) and 271(1)(c), and the corresponding demand notices under Section 156. The core and undisputed contention raised before the Court was that the Section 148 notice was unsigned—neither bearing a manual signature nor a digital signature of the Assessing Officer—rendering it invalid. It was argued that once the foundational notice itself is void, all subsequent proceedings must necessarily fall. The department did not dispute that the notice was unsigned. However, it sought to justify the lapse by contending that the notice was issued on the last date of limitation, March 31, 2021, during a period when a large number of notices were being generated. According to the Revenue, a technical glitch resulted in the omission of the signature, though the notice bore a Document Identification Number (DIN) and was duly served on the assessee. Relying on a Delhi High Court ruling in Sonia Gandhi v. ACIT, the Revenue argued that the absence of a signature was a procedural irregularity and not fatal to the validity of the reassessment proceedings. The Bombay High Court held that the issue was no longer res integra and was squarely covered by its earlier decision in Prakash Krishnavtar Bhardwaj v. ITO. In that case, the Court had categorically ruled that an unsigned notice under Section 148 is invalid and incapable of vesting jurisdiction in the Assessing Officer. The court emphasized that Section 282A of the Income Tax Act statutorily mandates that notices issued by income-tax authorities must be signed, either manually or digitally. Non-compliance with this requirement goes to the root of the matter and renders the notice void at inception. The Court clarified that such a defect is not curable under Section 292B, which saves certain technical mistakes, nor under Section 292BB, which deals with deemed service of notice. The absence of a signature, the Court held, is not a mere procedural irregularity but a substantive illegality that strikes at the validity of the notice itself. Distinguishing the Delhi High Court’s ruling in Sonia Gandhi, the Bench observed that the said decision did not pertain to a case where the reassessment notice was entirely unsigned. As such, reliance placed on that judgment by the Revenue was held to be misplaced. Allowing the writ petition, the Bombay High Court quashed the unsigned notice issued under Section 148, the consequential reassessment order under Section 147, penalty orders passed under Sections 271(1)(b) and 271(1)(c), and all related demand notices issued under Section 156. The Court held that all proceedings initiated pursuant to the invalid notice were without jurisdiction and unsustainable in law. The rule was made absolute, with no order as to costs. Case Details Case Title: Ambernath City Hospital Pvt.Ltd. Versus UOI Case No.: Writ Petition No.2713 Of 2024 Date: 06/01/2026 Counsel For Petitioner: Bharat Raichandani a/w Ms.Bhagrati Sahu i/b M/s.UBR Legal Advocates Counsel For Respondent: khileshwar Sharma, Advocate Click Here To Read Order Read More: DGGI Ghaziabad | Court Grants 14-Day Judicial Remand in Rs. 36.42 Crore GST ITC Evasion Case

Unsigned Reassessment Notice Are Void Ab Initio: Bombay HC

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