Jurisdictional defect in assessment: absence of statutory empowerment and transfer order rendered the assessment void.

An assessment made by an Additional Commissioner was held invalid because no order under section 120(4)(b) had empowered him to act as the Assessing Officer, and no transfer order under section 127 had been passed. CBDT Instruction No. 6/2009 could not substitute for the missing statutory authorisation, as it was only administrative guidance. The objection to jurisdiction was not barred by section 124(3), because that provision concerns territorial jurisdiction, whereas the challenge went to inherent jurisdiction and the very authority to complete the assessment. The jurisdictional objection was therefore upheld and the assessment was void.

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Issues: Whether the assessment framed by the Addl. CIT without an order under section 120(4)(b) and without a transfer order under section 127 was valid, and whether the objection to jurisdiction was barred by section 124(3).

Analysis: The assessment could be made only by an Assessing Officer as defined in section 2(7A), and an Additional Commissioner or Joint Commissioner could exercise such powers only when directed under section 120(4)(b). The material on record showed that no such authorising order had been passed. The reliance placed on CBDT Instruction No. 6/2009 did not cure the absence of a statutory order conferring jurisdiction, because the instruction was only for administrative guidance on quality assessments. The objection was also not hit by section 124(3), since that provision governs territorial jurisdiction, whereas the challenge here was to the very assumption of inherent jurisdiction. In the absence of valid jurisdiction, and also in the absence of any transfer order under section 127, the assessment could not stand.

Conclusion: The jurisdictional objection was upheld and the assessment was held invalid.

Final Conclusion: The addition-based assessment did not survive because the officer who made it lacked the necessary statutory authority to complete the assessment.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment framed by an officer who has not been validly empowered under section 120(4)(b), and whose jurisdiction has not been transferred under section 127 where required, is without jurisdiction and void, and such an objection is not barred by the limitation in section 124(3) when the challenge is to inherent jurisdiction rather than territorial jurisdiction.

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