9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (8) TMI 559X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ASEKHAR SUNDARESAN, JJ. For the Petitioner : Mr. Madhur Agrawal i/b Mr. Atul K. Jasani, Advocate. For the Respondents : Mr. Akhileshwar Sharma, Advocate. ORAL JUDGMENT (PER, G.S. KULKARNI, J.) 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Learned Counsel for the Respondents waives service. By consent of the parties, heard finally. 2. This Writ Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is filed to challenge a notice dated 25 April, 2024 ( impugned notice ) issued to the Petitioner under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ( the Act ), and also the underlying prior notice and order under Section 148A (b) and Section 148A (d) of the Act, respectively. The notice under Section 148 of the Act has been issued to the Petitioner in respect of returns filed by the Petitioner-Assessee for the Assessment Year 2017-18. 3. On perusal of the record, it is apparent that the impugned notice dated 30 March, 2024 issued under Section 148A (b) and the order passed thereon under Section 148A(d) dated 25 April, 2024 and the consequent notice dated 25 April, 2024 issued under Section 148 of the Act are issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer ( JAO ) and not by a Faceless Assessing Of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mly to any officer who would then have jurisdiction to issue the notice under Section 148 of the Act. It is not the case of respondent no.1 that respondent no.1 was the random officer who had been allocated jurisdiction. 36. With respect to the arguments of the Revenue, i.e., the notification dated 29th March 2022 provides that the Scheme so framed is applicable only to the extent provided in Section 144B of the Act and Section 144B of the Act does not refer to issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act and hence, the notice cannot be issued by the FAO as per the said Scheme, we express our view as follows:- Section 151A of the Act itself contemplates formulation of Scheme for both assessment, reassessment or recomputation under Section 147 as well as for issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act. Therefore, the Scheme framed by the CBDT, which covers both the aforesaid aspect of the provisions of Section 151A of the Act cannot be said to be applicable only for one aspect, i.e., proceedings post the issue of notice under Section 148 of the Act being assessment, reassessment or recomputation under Section 147 of the Act and inapplicable to the issuance of notice under Sec ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sued to the Petitioner under Section 148 of the Act, would not be sustainable in view of the judgment rendered in Hexaware. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner-Assessee has also drawn our attention to a recent decision of this Court in Nainraj Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Vs. The Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle-4(3)(1), Mumbai Ors. Writ Petition (L.) No. 16918 of 2024 dt. 2-07-2024, whereby in similar circumstances, this Court has allowed the petition considering the provisions of Section 151A of the Act. 7. This apart it is submitted by Mr. Mohanty, Learned Counsel for the Revenue that while the notice issued under Section 148 may be quashed and set aside, considering the law declared by this Court in Hexaware (supra), however, the order passed under Section 148A(d) and the notice issued by the JAO under Section 148A (b) cannot be set aside, since the requirement to issue notice in the faceless mode, is a requirement attached only to Section 148 and not to Section 148A. 8. On a perusal of the notification and the relevant provisions of the Act, namely Section 148A Clauses (b) and (d), it cannot be held that the proceedings under these provisions would fall outside the scope of t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... which reads thus : [Faceless assessment of income escaping assessment. 151A. (1) The Central Government may make a scheme, by notification in the Official Gazette, for the purposes of assessment, reassessment or re-computation under section 147 or issuance of notice under section 148 [or conducting of enquiries or issuance of show-cause notice or passing of order under section 148A] [Inserted by the Finance Act, 2021, w.e.f. 1-4-2021.] or sanction for issue of such notice under section 151, so as to impart greater efficiency, transparency and accountability by (a) eliminating the interface between the income-tax authority and the assessee or any other person to the extent technologically feasible; (b) optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation; (c) introducing a team-based assessment, reassessment, re-computation or issuance or sanction of notice with dynamic jurisdiction. (2) The Central Government may, for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme made under sub-section (1), by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on 148 of the Act, it would not take within its ambit the provisions of Section 148A which are the initial steps, which in a given case are required to be taken in issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act. Section 148A provides for Conducting inquiry, providing opportunity before issue of notice under section 148 . Thus, this provision postulates a procedure inextricably linked to Section 148 which would apply to all cases of reassessment with a proviso stipulating exceptions to the rule. In other words, Section 148A in its object, intent and purpose is inextricably connected with the assessment, re-assessment or recomputation, for which a notice under Section 148 may be issued. Any other view would mean that the requirement to adopt the faceless procedure under the Scheme is a mere ministerial requirement for issuance of the notice. Such a reading would not be in conformity with the objectives spelt out in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of Section 151A (1). 14. Thus, to accept a contention that merely because the notification does not explicitly refer to the provisions of Section 148A, the scope of the Scheme as defined in paragraph 3 would exclude the applicability of Section 14 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
