Faceless Assessment Mandatory: Punjab & Haryana HC Quashes S.148 Notice Issued by JAO [Read Order]

The Punjab & Haryana High Court held that a reassessment notice issued under Section 148 by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer was invalid in view of the statutory regime requiring such notices to be issued only through the faceless assessment mechanism.

The petitioner, Karambir Singh Nalwa challenged a notice issued under Section 148of the Income Tax Act, 1961, contending that the notice was issued in violation of the Ministry of Finance’s Notification dated 29.03.2022, which mandated that reassessment proceedings, including the issuance of notice under Section 148, must be conducted only through a faceless mechanism.

The petitioner, through Advocate Vishav Bharti Gupta, relied on two earlier judgments of the Punjab & Haryana HC in Jatinder Singh Bhangu v. Union of India (2024) and Jasjit Singh v. Union of India (2024), holding that reassessment notices issued by jurisdictional officers were unsustainable once the faceless regime had been notified. Therefore, the petitioner submitted that the impugned notice suffered from the same defect and was liable to be quashed.

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The Bench of Justice Deepak Sibal and Justice Lapita Banerji noted that the previous coordinate Benches ruled that notices under Section 148 could not be issued by the jurisdictional authorities after the issuance of the Notification dated 29.03.2022. Since the present case stood on the same issue, the Court held that the impugned notice was unsustainable in law.

Consequently, the High Court quashed the notice and allowed the writ petition while granting liberty to the Department to proceed against the petitioner strictly in accordance with law.

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