Territorial jurisdiction: Appeal inadmissible where assessing officer's situs lies outside the hearing bench's territorial competence.

Territorial appellate jurisdiction is determined by the situs of the Assessing Officer who passed the assessment; a transfer of the record under Section 127 does not alter which bench has appellate competence. Tribunal rules and standing orders allocate bench jurisdiction according to the Assessing Officer's territorial location, so a bench outside that territory lacks authority to entertain appeals or cross-objections arising from that assessment. Consequential merits questions are academic where the forum lacks jurisdiction. Result: the appeal and cross-objections are not maintainable before the out-of-territory bench and are dismissed for want of jurisdiction in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: (i) Whether the ITAT, Varanasi (Circuit Bench) had territorial jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal and cross-objections arising from an assessment order passed by ITO, Ward 5(2), Kolkata.

Analysis: The appellate forum for an appeal arising from an assessment order is determined by the situs of the Assessing Officer who passed the impugned assessment order. The decision in PCIT v. ABC Papers Ltd. establishes that transfer of a case under Section 127 does not alter the territorial appellate jurisdiction, which remains tied to the location of the Assessing Officer who framed the assessment. Applicable tribunal rules and standing orders allocate bench jurisdiction according to the territorial location of the Assessing Officer. Where the assessing officer who passed the order is situated within the Kolkata jurisdiction, the Varanasi Bench lacks authority to entertain the appeal or to rule on the validity of the appellate order passed by a CIT(A) outside its territorial competence. Questions which depend on merits or invite adjudication on issues other than the preliminary jurisdictional point are rendered academic if the forum lacks jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The appeal and the cross-objections are not maintainable before ITAT, Varanasi because territorial appellate jurisdiction in respect of the assessment order passed by ITO, Ward 5(2), Kolkata lies with the benches having jurisdiction over Kolkata; the appeal is therefore dismissed for want of jurisdiction in favour of the assessee.

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