Assessment Order time Barred though signed before time

The Kolkata Bench of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) quashed a final assessment order passed under Sections 143(3) read with 144C(13) of the Income-tax Act on the ground of limitation. 

The Tribunal held that merely signing or dating an assessment order within the statutory period does not amount to completion of assessment. In faceless assessment proceedings, an order becomes effective only when it is duly dispatched and communicated in accordance with the prescribed electronic procedure. 

Since the assessment order, though dated within time, was served on the assessee after expiry of the limitation period, it was held to be invalid and unenforceable.