TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (8) TMI 1625
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....er Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 ("the Act"), and also a prior notice issued under Section 148A(b) and an order dated 5April, 2022 passed under Section 148(A)(d) of the Act. The Assessment Year in question is AY 2018-19. 3. It is apparent that the impugned notice dated 5 April, 2022 issued under Section 148 of the Act and the order of the same date under Section 148A(d) of the Act are issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer ("JAO") and not under the mandatory faceless mechanism as per the provisions of Section 151A of the Act. For a notice to be validly issued under Section 148 of the Act, the Respondent No.2 would be required to comply with the provisions of Section 151A of the Act, so as to adhere to the faceless mechani....
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....follow it or not. That automated allocation is defined in paragraph 2(b) of the Scheme to mean an algorithm for randomised allocation of cases by using suitable technological tools including artificial intelligence and machine learning with a view to optimise the use of resources. Therefore, it means that the case can be allocated randomly to any officer who would then have jurisdiction to issue the notice under Section 148 of the Act. It is not the case of respondent no.1 that respondent no.1 was the random officer who had been allocated jurisdiction. 36. With respect to the arguments of the Revenue, i.e., the notification dated 29th March 2022 provides that the Scheme so framed is applicable only 'to the extent' provided in Section 144B....
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....nce of notice under Section 148 of the Act. Respondents, being an authority subordinate to the CBDT, cannot argue that the Scheme framed by the CBDT, and which has been laid before both House of Parliament is partly otiose and inapplicable " 37. When an authority acts contrary to law, the said act of the Authority is required to be quashed and set aside as invalid and bad in law and the person seeking to quash such an action is not required to establish prejudice from the said Act. An act which is done by an authority contrary to the provisions of the statue, itself causes prejudice to assessee. All assessees are entitled to be assessed as per law and by following the procedure prescribed by law. Therefore, when the Income Tax Authority p....
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....tice also being contrary to the decision of this Court in Siemens Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Circle 8(2)(1), Mumbai & Ors. (Writ Petition No. 4888 of 2022) for the reason that the proceedings were initiated well after the expiry of three years from the end of the relevant assessment year. If this be so, the contention as urged on behalf of the petitioner is that the sanction for initiating the reassessment ought to have been granted by the authorities of the rank referred to in Section 151(ii) of the Act and not by the authorities of the relatively lower rank under Section 151(i) of the Act. It is submitted that the issue in this regard is no more res integra in view of the pronouncement of this Cour....
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....t section 151(i) of the Act and the PCIT-8 cannot be the specified authority as per section 151 of the Act. Further, even in the affidavit-in-reply, the department has accepted that the approval obtained is of the 'Principal Commissioner of Income- tax - 8' and, hence, such an approval would be bad in law. 25. TOLA, enacted on 29th September 2020 and came into force on 31st March 2020. It inter alia, provided for a relaxation of certain provisions of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Where any time limit for completion or compliance of an action such as completion of any proceedings or passing of any order or issuance of any notice fell between the period 20th March 2020 to 31st December 2020, the time limit for completion of such action stood ex....
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.... has accorded the sanction is the PCIT, Mumbai-5, The matter pertains to Assessment Year (AY) 2018-19 and since the impugned order as well as the notice are issued on 7th April, 2022, both have been issued beyond a period of three years. Therefore, the sanctioning authority has to be the PCIT as provided under Section 151(ii) of the Act. The proviso to Section 151 has been inserted only with effect from 1st April, 2023 and therefore, shall not be applicable to the matter at hand. 4. In this circumstances, as held by this Court in Siemens Financial Services Private Ltd. vs. Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax & Ors., the sanctino is invalid and consequently, the impugned order and impugned notice both dated 7th April, 2022 under section 148A....