Date of receipt of order is irrelevant for the purpose of counting period of limitation under section 263

The Assessing officer “AO” had passed an assessment order for the AY 2008-09 on 30.12.2010. The commissioner of Income Tax, vide power vested to him u/s 263 of the Income Tax Act,1961, initiated revision proceeding under section 263 of the Act to revise the assessment order passed by the AO.
The Commissioner of Income Tax set aside the order passed by the AO and passed an order on 26.03.2021 holding that the AO had failed to make relevant and necessary enquiries and held the order of AO as erroneous and prejudicial to the interest of the revenue.
The order of the commissioner was dispatched on 28.03.2021 to the assessee. However, the assessee received the order on 29.11.2012 only.
The order of the commissioner was challenged by the Assessee before ITAT, wherein the ITAT accepted the contention of the Assessee and quashed the order of the commissioner holding that the revision order passed by the learned Commissioner was passed beyond the period of limitation.
The order of the ITAT was upheld by the Hon’ble High Court, when the revenue challenged the order of ITAT before Hon’ble High Court. The court held that the date on which the order was received by the Assessee is relevant for determining the period of limitation under Section 263(2).

Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the High Court and the learned ITAT are right in holding that the order passed by the learned Commissioner passed under Section 263 was barred by period of limitation provided under Section 263 (2) of the Act.

The court held that the order was passed within 2 years from the end of the financial year in which the order sought to be revised was passed, which is within the time limit as prescribed under section 263(2) of the Act.
Section 263(2) of the Act states that no order shall be made under sub-section (1) after the expiry of two years from the end of the financial year in which the order sought to be revised was passed.
The date of receipt of the order has no relevance for the purpose of counting the period of limitation provided under Section 263 as the word used in the act is “made” and not the “date of receipt/dispatch of the order”.

Case Law: Commissioner of Income-tax, Chennai v. Mohammed Meeran Shahul Hameed, Supreme Court of India

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