Section 148 notices issued by wrong officers in faceless assessment cases declared invalid and quashed

The Bombay HC quashed notices issued under section 148 by Jurisdictional Assessing Officers (JAO) in faceless assessment cases, ruling they should have been issued by Faceless Assessing Officers (FAO) only. Following the precedent in Hexaware Technologies Limited, the court held such notices invalid under the scheme framed under section 151A of the Income Tax Act, 1961. All consequential reassessment orders, demand notices, and penalty notices were also quashed and set aside.

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Issues involved:
The validity of notices issued by Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) u/s 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, and whether they should have been issued by the Faceless Assessing Officer (FAO) as per Section 151A and the scheme framed thereunder.

Judgment Details:

1. The Court had previously ruled in the case of Hexaware Technologies Limited v. Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax that notices issued by JAO instead of FAO are invalid and bad-in-law u/s 151A of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

2. The petitions in question fall under the purview of the judgment in the Hexaware case, as confirmed by the counsels for both Petitioners and Respondents.

3. Notices challenged in the petitions, issued by JAO u/s 148 of the Act, are declared invalid and are hereby quashed and set aside. Any reassessment orders, as well as consequential demand or penalty notices, are also deemed quashed and set aside.

4. Petitions are disposed of accordingly, and any interim applications are also considered disposed of.

5. All rights and contentions not covered by the Hexaware judgment are preserved for parties to raise in other petitions if necessary in the future.

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