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TMI Blog2024 (9) TMI 876X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ould amount to breach of the provisions of section 151A of the IT Act.it is apparent that the Respondent- Revenue has not complied with the Scheme notified by the Central Government pursuant to Section 151A (2). The Scheme has also been tabled in Parliament and is in the character of subordinate legislation, which governs the conduct of proceedings under Section 148A as well as Section 148 of the Act. There is no question of concurrent jurisdiction of the JAO and the FAO for issuance of notice u/s 148 of the Act or even for passing assessment or reassessment order. When specific jurisdiction has been assigned to either the JAO or the FAO in the Scheme dated 29th March, 2022, then it is to the exclusion of the other. In view of the explicit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on 148 of the Act are all issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer ( JAO ) and not by a Faceless Assessing Officer ( FAO ), as is required by the provisions of Section 151A of the Act. 5. To give effect to the provisions of Section 151A, the Central Government has issued a Notification dated 29 March 2022 whereby a faceless mechanism has been introduced. Thus, necessarily in resorting to a procedure under Section 148A and the consequent notice to be issued under Section 148 of the Act, the Assessing Officer is required to adhere to the provisions of Section 151A read with the Notification. Thus, for a notice to be validly issued for reassessment under Section 148 of the Act, the Respondent-Revenue would need to be compliant with Secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the Scheme to mean an algorithm for randomised allocation of cases by using suitable technological tools including artificial intelligence and machine learning with a view to optimise the use of resources. Therefore, it means that the case can be allocated randomly 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 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ordinate to the CBDT, cannot argue that the Scheme framed by the CBDT, and which has been laid before both House of Parliament is partly otiose and inapplicable. .. 37 When an authority acts contrary to law, the said act of the Authority is required to be quashed and set aside as invalid and bad in law and the person seeking to quash such an action is not required to establish prejudice from the said Act. An act which is done by an authority contrary to the provisions of the statue, itself causes prejudice to assessee. All assessees are entitled to be assessed as per law and by following the procedure prescribed by law. Therefore, when the Income Tax Authority proposes to take action against an assessee without following the due process of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sent case pertains to the central charge, the same would stand covered by the order dated March 31, 2021 passed under section 144B(2) read with section 119 of the Act, and the further order dated September 6, 2021, passed under these sections. Consequently, the contention is that this case would fall outside the purview of the scheme made under Section 151A of the Act, which, but for being under the central charge,would otherwise be covered by the decision of this Court in Hexaware. 8. Learned counsel for the petitioner has also drawn our attention to the decision of this Court in Kairos Properties Pvt. Ltd. vs. Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax and Ors . Writ Petition (L) No. 22686 of 2024 dated 05-08-2024 ( Kairos Properties ), where t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d would be required to be rejected. The writ petition is accordingly allowed in terms of prayer clause (a) which reads thus : (a) that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorari or a Writ in the nature of Certiorari or any other appropriate Writ, Order or direction, calling for the records of the Petitioner's case and after going into the legality and propriety thereof, to quash and set aside notice dated 01.03.2023 u/s 148A(b) (Exhibit B), order dated 23.03.2023 passed under section 148A(d) (Exhibit E) and the notice dated 23.03.2023 issued under section 148 of the Act (Exhibit F). 10. We make it clear that having disposed of this petition on the ground of non-compliance with Section 151A of the Act, we have no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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