Section 153A overrides pending reassessment where a search occurs, and jurisdictional defects render the assessment void.

Where a search triggered the special regime under section 153A, a pending reassessment under section 147 could not be continued; the reassessment was treated as beyond jurisdiction and void ab initio. The article also notes that a valid transfer of jurisdiction was required for the assessing officer to assume control, and that absence of a lawful section 127(2) transfer order, coupled with non-service of intimation of change of assessing officer, created a jurisdictional defect. On that basis, the assessment was quashed and the merits of the additions were left unexamined.

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Issues: (i) Whether the reassessment framed under section 147 was without jurisdiction because, after the search, the proper course was assessment under section 153A; (ii) Whether the assessment was invalid for want of lawful transfer of jurisdiction under section 127(2) and for non-service of intimation of change of Assessing Officer under section 129.

Issue (i): Whether the reassessment framed under section 147 was without jurisdiction because, after the search, the proper course was assessment under section 153A.

Analysis: The reassessment proceedings were pending when the search took place. In such a situation, the special scheme of section 153A governed the field and the pending reassessment had to abate. The Assessing Officer was therefore required to proceed under section 153A rather than continue under section 147. The judgment applied the principle that a special statutory provision overrides the general provision and treated the reassessment framed under section 147/143(3) as beyond jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The reassessment under section 147 was held void ab initio and was quashed in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the assessment was invalid for want of lawful transfer of jurisdiction under section 127(2) and for non-service of intimation of change of Assessing Officer under section 129.

Analysis: The transfer of the case from one assessing unit to another required a lawful jurisdictional transfer order where the officers were not under the same administrative control. The record did not show compliance with that mandatory requirement, and the change in incumbent Assessing Officer was not duly intimated to the assessee. The absence of a valid transfer order meant that the officer who framed the assessment did not acquire lawful jurisdiction over the case.

Conclusion: The assessment was held to suffer from a jurisdictional defect and was quashed in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The assessment order was set aside on jurisdictional grounds, and the additions on merits were rendered academic and not examined.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a search triggers the special regime of section 153A, a pending reassessment under section 147 cannot be continued, and an assessment framed without lawful assumption of jurisdiction is void ab initio.

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