9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (9) TMI 1451X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of Section 151A had clearly brought a regime of faceless assessment. The Court held that it was not permissible for the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer to issue a notice u/s 148, as the same would amount to breach of the provisions of section 151A of the IT 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. To take any other view in the matter, would not only result in chaos but also render the whole faceless proceedings redundant. If the argument of Revenue is to be a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ct of returns filed by the Petitioner-Assessee for the Assessment Year 2018-19. 3. On perusal of the record, it is apparent that the impugned notice dated 8 February, 2024 issued under Section 148A(b), the order passed thereon under Section 148A(d) dated 28 March, 2024 and the consequent notice dated 2 March, 2024 issued under Section 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. 4. 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 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 022 in paragraph 3 clearly provides that the issuance of notice shall be through automated allocation which means that the same is mandatory and is required to be followed by the Department and does not give any discretion to the Department to choose whether to follow it or not . That automated allocation is defined in paragraph 2(b) 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 resp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Act in a faceless manner, no notice is required to be issued under Section 148 of the Act in a faceless manner. In such a situation, not only clause 3(b) but also the first two lines below clause 3(b) would be otiose, as it deals with the aspect of issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act. Respondents, being an authority subordinate 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 . 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 w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vt. 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. In the light of the above discussion, and as there is no dispute that the JAO had no jurisdiction to issue the impugned notice, the Writ Petition is accordingly allowed in terms of prayer clause (a) which reads thus : (a) that this Hon ble Court be pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorari or a writ in the nature of Certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction under Article 226 and/or Article 227 of the Constitution of India calling for the records of the Petitioner s case ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
