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10. That on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Ld. CIT (A) has erred in law and on facts in making an ad-hoc and arbitrary addition amounting to Rs.13,10,160/- on substantive basis in the hands of the appellant and on protective basis in the hands of Sh. Shishir as the Ld. AO was himself not sure in whose hands the addition has to be made as the said addition have been made totally on arbitrary & ad-hoc basis on the premises of some non-speaking undated & unsigned dumb documents supported by generic/unconnected WhatsApp chats which itself have no evidentiary value and that too without following the procedures laid down under the Indian Evidence Act, 1971 read with the Information Technology Act, 2000.

II. Assessment u/s 153C of the Act has been initiated based on a vague, non-

speaking, non-specific and defective Satisfaction Note based on an undated & unsigned dumb document and thus, the very order u/s 153C of the Act dated 13.03.2024 of framed based on a defective satisfaction are liable to be quashed.

1) Drawing of Satisfaction note is a pre-requisite for initiating proceedings u/s 153C of the Act wherein the Ld. AO record his satisfaction based on some incriminating material which has been found during the course of search which material specifically & clearly indicate that there exists an undisclosed income for a particular assessment year which belongs to a person other the person searched.

In view of the aforementioned legal position, it is unambiguously clear that dumb documents (undated, unsigned random notings) cannot at all be relied upon for making addition while framing assessment under the relevant provisions of Income Tax Act, 1961 and thus, following the said settled position of law, the assumption of jurisdiction by recording satisfaction note based on a dumb document is not permissible under law and accordingly, the very assumption of jurisdiction is bad in law, illegal and void.

a) The Ld. AO has made erroneous additions by placing reliance upon some generic/random/unconnected WhatsApp Chats which were never discussed/mentioned/indicated and/or formed part of the Satisfaction Note so drawn which fact is clearly apparent and discussed at Para III above to support the reliance placed on a piece of undated & unsigned dumb document.

b) In the instant case, the tax authorities have not followed the procedure laid down u/s 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the Digital Evidence Investigation Manual 2014 (hereinafter called as the "Manual") prescribed by the CBDT which is a mandatory pre-requisite for admissibility of electronic evidences such as WhatsApp chats and other electronic data seized.