Jurisdictional notice defect under section 143(2) can render the resulting assessment void ab initio.

An assessment under section 143(3) is void where the section 143(2) notice is issued by an Income Tax Officer lacking jurisdiction under the applicable allocation notification. The assessee's returned income fell within the category assigned to the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner under Notification No. 1/2014-15, yet the notice and assessment were issued by the Income Tax Officer. Because the jurisdictional defect in the statutory notice goes to the root of the proceedings and is incurable, the assessment was quashed as void ab initio and the assessee's challenge succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the assessment framed under section 143(3) was invalid for want of jurisdiction because the notice under section 143(2) was issued by an officer not vested with jurisdiction under the departmental notification.

Analysis: The returned income was above the monetary threshold prescribed in Notification No. 1/2014-15 dated 15.11.2014 for allocation of cases to the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner rather than the Income Tax Officer. Since the notice under section 143(2) and the assessment under section 143(3) were both issued by the Income Tax Officer despite the assessee falling within the category assigned to the higher authority, the proceedings suffered from inherent lack of jurisdiction. A jurisdictional defect in the statutory notice goes to the root of the assessment and cannot be cured.

Conclusion: The assessment was quashed as void ab initio and the legal ground was answered in favour of the assessee; the other grounds became academic.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment is invalid where the jurisdictional notice under section 143(2) is issued by an authority not empowered under the governing jurisdictional notification, because such defect is incurable and renders the consequential assessment void.

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