Gurjit Singh Vs ITO (ITAT Chandigarh)
Reassessment Quashed: ITAT Chandigarh Holds Section 148 Notice Invalid for Breach of Faceless Regime
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal quashed the reassessment for AY 2019-20 after holding that the notice issued under section 148 by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) was invalid and without jurisdiction, being contrary to section 151A read with CBDT Notification No. 18/2022 dated 29-03-2022, which mandates issuance of such notices only through the Faceless Assessing Officer (FAO).
The Tribunal relied heavily on the binding judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Jatinder Singh Bhangu and subsequent consistent High Court rulings, holding that reassessment proceedings commence from the stage of notice under section 148, and therefore the faceless scheme applies at the very inception. Any notice issued by the JAO defeats the statutory scheme and vitiates the entire proceedings.
The Revenue’s argument that the faceless regime does not apply to Central Charges or International Taxation cases was rejected, following authoritative High Court precedents (including Hexaware Technologies and Abhin Anilkumar Shah), which clarify that section 151A operates independently and overrides administrative instructions.
Since the foundational notice itself was held to be illegal, the Tribunal quashed the reassessment order passed under sections 147/144, rendering the addition under section 69 unsustainable. The assessee’s appeal was allowed in full, without examining other grounds, as they became purely academic.
FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER OF ITAT CHANDIGARH
