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TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (8) TMI 559
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....espect of returns filed by the Petitioner-Assessee for the Assessment Year 2017-18. 3. On perusal of the record, it is apparent that the impugned notice dated 30 March, 2024 issued under Section 148A (b) and the order passed thereon under Section 148A(d) dated 25 April, 2024 and the consequent notice dated 25 April, 2024 issued under Section 148 of the Act are issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer ("JAO") and not by a Faceless Assessing Officer ("FAO"), as required by the provisions of Section 151A of the Act. 4. To give effect to the provisions of Section 151A, the Central Government has issued a Notification dated 29 March 2022 whereby faceless mechanism has been introduced. Thus, necessarily by resorting to a procedure under Section 148A the consequent notice is required to be issued under Section 148 of the Act, the Assessing Officer needs to adhere to the provisions of Section 151 read with the said notification. Thus, for a notice under Section 148 of the Act to be validly issued, the Respondent-Revenue is required to comply with the provisions of Section 151A, which has been interpreted and analysed in detail by a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Hexawa....
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....utation under Section 147 as well as for issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act. Therefore, the Scheme framed by the CBDT, which covers both the aforesaid aspect of the provisions of Section 151A of the Act cannot be said to be applicable only for one aspect, i.e., proceedings post the issue of notice under Section 148 of the Act being assessment, reassessment or recomputation under Section 147 of the Act and inapplicable to the issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act. The Scheme is clearly applicable for issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act and accordingly, it is only the FAO which can issue the notice under Section 148 of the Act and not the JAO. The argument advanced by respondent would render clause 3 (b) of the Scheme otiose and to be ignored or contravened, as according to respondent, even though the Scheme specifically provides for issuance of notice under Section 148 of the Act in a faceless manner, no notice is required to be issued under Section 148 of the Act in a faceless manner. In such a situation, not only clause 3 (b) but also the first two lines below clause 3 (b) would be otiose, as it deals with the aspect of issuance of notice under S....
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....n Hexaware (supra), however, the order passed under Section 148A(d) and the notice issued by the JAO under Section 148A (b) cannot be set aside, since the requirement to issue notice in the faceless mode, is a requirement attached only to Section 148 and not to Section 148A. 8. On a perusal of the notification and the relevant provisions of the Act, namely Section 148A Clauses (b) and (d), it cannot be held that the proceedings under these provisions would fall outside the scope of the Scheme, namely the "E-Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022" ("Scheme"), as defined in paragraph 3, as notified by the Central Government under notification dated 29 March, 2022 issued by the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue (Central Board of Direct Taxes) ("notification"), it would be difficult to accept a proposition that only the notice under Section 148 of the Act, in such circumstances, would be required to be quashed and set aside, and not the notice issued by the JAO under Section 148A (b) and the order passed under Section 148A(d), as a consequence of which the JAO has issued a notice under Section 148. The reasons for which are discussed hereunder. 9. The Scheme u....
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....technologically feasible; (b) optimising utilisation of the resources through economies of scale and functional specialisation; (c) introducing a team-based assessment, reassessment, re-computation or issuance or sanction of notice with dynamic jurisdiction. (2) The Central Government may, for the purpose of giving effect to the scheme made under sub-section (1), by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that any of the provisions of this Act shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the notification. Provided that no direction shall be issued after the 31st day of March, 2022. (3) Every notification issued under sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) shall, as soon as may be after the notification is issued, be laid before each House of Parliament.] 12. On a plain reading of sub-section (1) of Section 151A, it is seen that it clearly provides that the Central Government may make a scheme by notification in the Official Gazette for the purposes of assessment, reassessment or re-computation under section 147 or issuance of notice under section 148 or conducting of enquiries etc., or sanction for issue....
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....ice under Section 148 may be issued. Any other view would mean that the requirement to adopt the faceless procedure under the Scheme is a mere ministerial requirement for issuance of the notice. Such a reading would not be in conformity with the objectives spelt out in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of Section 151A (1). 14. Thus, to accept a contention that merely because the notification does not explicitly refer to the provisions of Section 148A, the scope of the Scheme as defined in paragraph 3 would exclude the applicability of Section 148A, would lead to an absolute absurdity, and more particularly, considering the express provisions of subsection (1) of Section 151A. Also it is not possible to accept reading of the provisions of Section 144B de-hors Section 151A (1). Sub-section (2) of Section 151A is specifically incorporated to empower the Central Government to exclude the applicability of any of the provisions of the Act and/or to make such provisions applicable with exceptions, modifications and adaptations. Nothing of this nature is found in the notification to infer any exclusion of Section 148A, and when it clearly concerns the entire assessment, reassessment or re-computat....