Pecuniary jurisdiction over statutory notices under section...

Pecuniary jurisdiction over statutory notices under section 143(2) must comply with CBDT instructions allocating cases by returned-income limits. Where an Income-tax Officer issues the notice despite the returned income exceeding that officer's prescribed limit, the defect concerns pecuniary rather than territorial jurisdiction; the territorial-jurisdiction objection rule does not apply. CBDT instructions bind the Department, and issue of a jurisdictional notice by an officer without pecuniary authority is an illegality, not a procedural irregularity capable of validation under section 292BB. The notices and consequential assessment were therefore treated as void from inception and quashed; other grounds remained academic.