The HC held that the Jurisdictional Assessment Officer (JAO) has...

The HC held that the Jurisdictional Assessment Officer (JAO) has exclusive jurisdiction to issue notice u/s 148 of the Income Tax Act. For assessment, re-assessment or re-computation u/s 147, both the Faceless Assessment Officer (FAO) and JAO have concurrent jurisdiction. The Directorate of Income Tax (Systems) allocates cases for Section 148 notice issuance to the JAO based on PAN jurisdiction. The JAO issues the notice digitally without name through the ITBA Portal to the assessee's registered email. Procedural lapses like not mentioning JAO's name do not vitiate the proceedings as they are curable. JAO requires higher authority's approval u/s 151A for issuing Section 148 notice. After issuing notice, JAO uploads documents and assessee's reply on ITBA Portal. The case then moves to the National Faceless Assessment Centre (NaFAC) which assumes jurisdiction u/s 144B and issues notice u/ss 143(2)/142(1) for further information. The guidelines u/s 144B(2) are not Central Government directions u/s 151A(2). Both FAO and JAO perform duties in a faceless manner as per the Scheme.