Sec. 143(3), 144C(1) & 144C(13) of Income Tax Act, 1961 -Transfer pricing - The assessee challenged the validity of the assessment order saying that the copy of the draft assessment order forwarded to the assessee was not signed by the AO. He submitted, an assessment order not signed or stamped by the AO is not a valid order. Revenue submitted that there is no dispute that the final assessment order against which the assessee has preferred the appeal is a valid order as it has been stamped and signed by the AO. Even the office copies of the draft assessment order kept on record have been duly stamped and signed by the AO. Therefore, if due to an inadvertent mistake the copy of the draft assessment order forwarded by the assessee remained unsigned, it will not vitiate the order as it is a curable defect as per s. 292B of the Act. Tribunal dismissed the appeal of the assessee holding that ”in strict sense of the term, the draft assessment order cannot be treated as assessment order passed under s. 143(3) r/w s. 144C(3) or s. 144C(13) of the Act. Therefore, the non-signing of the draft assessment order forwarded to the assessee would not invalidate the final assessment order passed under s. 143(3) r/w s. 144C(13) of the Act. There is no dispute that the final assessment order has been duly signed and stamped by the AO. That being the case, there cannot be any issue regarding the validity of the final assessment order“. - REUTERS TRANSACTION SERVICES LTD. V/s DY. CIT - [2020] 204 TTJ 624 (ITAT-MUMBAI)