Sappahire Educational & Charitable Trust Vs ITO (ITAT Chennai)
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), Chennai, considered appeals filed by Sappahire Educational & Charitable Trust against the orders of the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals)/NFAC, Delhi, for Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19, challenging both the quantum of assessment and penalty under Section 271AAC of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The assessee primarily contested the validity of notices issued under Sections 148/148A of the Act, asserting that the notices were issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) rather than the National Faceless Assessment Centre (NFAC), contravening the faceless assessment scheme notified by the CBDT on 29 March 2022 pursuant to Section 151A of the Act.
The assessee raised Ground No.5 in its quantum appeal, arguing that the issuance of the notice under Section 148A(d) by the JAO was in violation of the procedural requirements under Sections 151/151A of the Act and the e-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022 (the Scheme). The Scheme mandates that assessment, reassessment, re-computation under Section 147, and issuance of notice under Section 148 must be conducted through automated allocation in a faceless manner. The assessee contended that since the notice dated 31 March 2022 was issued by the JAO and not by the NFAC, it was invalid and legally ineffective. The assessee relied on multiple High Court decisions—including Hexaware Technologies Ltd. v. ACIT (Bombay HC), Sushila Sureshbabu Malge v. ITO (Bombay HC), Jatinder Singh Bhangu v. Union of India (P&H HC), and Ram Narayan Sah v. Union of India (Gauhati HC)—to support the claim that notices issued contrary to the Scheme are invalid.
