Prima Facie Adjustments v. Substantive Adjudication: Procedural Boundaries in Return Processing (CPC) u/s 143(1)(a)

Prima facie adjustments cannot decide debatable legal claims in return processing; contested deductions require scrutiny procedures.

When a claimed deduction depends on timely deposit of employee welfare contributions and the legal question is debatable or pending higher adjudication, summary processing adjustments cannot be used to resolve the dispute; such matters require scrutiny or reassessment procedures and the validity of any processing-stage action must be judged by the law and facts existing at the time of processing.