Jurisdiction of Assessing Officer requires fresh notices after transfer; absence of fresh notices invalidates reassessment.

Whether an assessment under reassessment provisions was valid when initial notices were issued by the transferor AO but no fresh notices were issued by the transferee AO; the court applied precedent treating issuance of fresh notices post-transfer as a jurisdictional requirement and found absence of such notices fatal to reassessment jurisdiction. On those facts and by applying the cited precedent, the reassessment proceedings were quashed for lack of jurisdiction and the appeal was dismissed in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the assessment framed under Section 147 read with Section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 was passed by an officer having jurisdiction where notices under Section 148 and Section 143(2) were issued by the transferor Assessing Officer and no fresh notices were issued by the transferee Assessing Officer.

Analysis: The undisputed factual position is that notices under Section 148 and Section 143(2) were issued by the Income Tax Officer, ward-61(4), and the assessee objected to that officer's jurisdiction leading to transfer of the case to Income Tax Officer, ward-6(1), where assessment was ultimately framed. The Tribunal recorded that no notices were issued afresh by the transferee Assessing Officer. The Tribunal applied the decision in PCIT v. Bhagyalaxmi Conclave Pvt. Ltd., which dealt with identical facts and quashed reassessment proceedings for lack of jurisdiction where notices were not issued by the transferee Assessing Officer post-transfer. On those facts and by applying that precedent, the reassessment was held to be without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The appeal is dismissed and the impugned assessment proceedings are quashed for lack of jurisdiction; result is in favour of the assessee.

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