The Bombay High Court has imposed a fine of Rs. 25,000 on the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO) for failing to adhere to a binding judgement in the case of Hexaware Technologies Limited vs. Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax & 4 Ors.

The judgement clarified that under the faceless assessment scheme, as introduced by Section 151A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the National Faceless Assessment Centre ( NFAC ) holds exclusive jurisdiction for issuing reassessment notices.

The bench, comprising Justice G. S. Kulkarni and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan, criticised the conduct of the JAOs, highlighting that the situation has not been rectified by higher officials, including the Commissioner and Chief Commissioner of Income-tax. The court pointed out that even the Chief Commissioner acted with a total lack of consideration. The bench labelled this as a classic case of abuse of power by JAO

*Samp Furniture Pvt. Ltd. Vs Income Tax Officer, Ward 3(3)-Thane & Ors -  Bombay HC*

Hope This is useful to you.

CA Sohrabh Jindal

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