Mandatory section 143(2) notice is required where a return follows a section 148 notice; absence renders the assessment void.

Whether an assessment framed after issuance of a reopening notice is valid when the assessing officer proceeded on a return filed in response to that notice but did not issue the mandatory notice under section 143(2). The analysis finds that verification may occur electronically or by physical ITR-V, yet the assessing officer's action on the filed return did not cure the jurisdictional omission of issuing section 143(2). Applying controlling precedents, the assessment framed without issuing the mandatory section 143(2) notice is void and the assessment is quashed in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether an assessment framed under section 144B read with section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, without issuing the mandatory notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, is valid where the assessee filed a return in response to notice under section 148 and the assessing officer acted upon the return.

Analysis: The Tribunal examined whether the assessing officer had treated and acted upon the return filed by the assessee in response to the section 148 notice, notwithstanding that the electronic verification remained pending and a manual ITR-V was sent for validation. The Tribunal considered departmental guidelines proving that verification may be effected either electronically or by sending a physical signed ITR-V to CPC, and found that the AO took the income declared in the return as the starting point for computation. The Tribunal reviewed coordinate decisions holding that once a return is filed in response to a section 148 notice, a notice under section 143(2) is mandatory before framing an assessment, and that assessments completed without such notice are void. Applying those precedents to the facts where no section 143(2) notice was issued but the AO had acted on the filed return, the Tribunal concluded that the jurisdictional requirement of issuing section 143(2) notice was not complied with.

Conclusion: The assessment framed without issuance of the mandatory notice under section 143(2) is null and void; ground No. 5 of the assessee's appeal is allowed and the assessment is quashed, in favour of the assessee.

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