TMI Blog2020 (12) TMI 1361X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... concerned Assessing Authority. The Income Tax Department has recently introduced a Scheme of Faceless Assessments which will avoid personal hearing and physical interaction of Assessee and Assessing Authority altogether. Assessee need not even know the name of the Assessing Authority who will deal with his case. The process of hearing appears to have been undertaken by the Assessing Authority who passed the order on 30.12.2016 during the pendency of the writ petition with the permission of the Court, and the Assessment Order to be kept in sealed cover and which was served on the Assessee after the dismissal of the Writ Petition on 05.12.2017. We do not see anything wrong in the Assessing Authority passing the Assessment Order in the present case and for other years with the due permission of the Court itself and keeping that in a sealed cover until the writ petition was dismissed on 05.12.2017. Even thereafter, the orders were sought to be served only along with a communication dated 21.01.2019 to which the Assessee responded by his letter dated 07.02.2019 and thereafter, another letter by the Chartered Accountants of the Assessee, Mr.R.Balachandran, a response for payment of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... .06.2016 was passed by M/s.Anu J Singh, IRS, Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Chennai-1, Chennai and the proceedings of the Assessee, M/s. Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt. Ltd., were transferred from DCIT, Corporate Circle-1(1), Chennai (CHE-C-251-1) to another parallel authority, DCIT, Central Circle 2(1), Chennai, (DLCCC-52-1). The learned Single Judge did not find any ground to interfere with the said consolidation and transfer of cases from one Assessing Officer to another and therefore, dismissed the Writ Petition No.35408 of 2016 with the following observations:- 62. As pointed out earlier, sub-section (3) of Section 127 of the Act does not commence with a non-obstante clause, but it is a clause providing for exclusion of certain procedures, which are required to be adhered to under circumstances not mentioned in sub-section (3) of Section 127 of the Act. Therefore, the theory of harmonious construction cannot be applied to the facts of this case, nor sub-section (3) of Section 127 of the Act, can be construed as a non-obstante clause, but a clause providing for exclusion of certain procedure in certain contingencies. The fact that the transferee and transferor o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssment Year 2014-15 was passed after the said interim order dated 19.12.2016 on 30.12.2016 itself and the same, however, could not be served upon the Assessee awaiting the disposal of the writ petition itself, which was finally dismissed on 05.12.2017 by the learned single Judge and thereafter, the said Assessment Order was sought to be served upon the Assessee along with a communication dated 21.01.2019 which was duly acknowledged by an e-mail of the assessee and thereafter followed by a letter dated 07.02.2019 which is also placed on record before us. The learned Additional Solicitor General of India submitted that the tenor of the letter of the Assessee unduly caused an impression on the Assessing Authority as if he was not entitled to serve the Assessment Order passed even after the dismissal of the writ petition relying on the interim order passed by the Division Bench dated 20.12.2017 in W.A.No.1763 of 2017, which was quoted in the said communication of the Assessee is quoted below for ready reference:- Mr.G.Rajagopalan, learned Additional Solicitor General appears on behalf of the respondents/Income Tax Department. The respondents are directed to produce the record ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nion that the Transfer Order passed under Section 127 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, is more in the nature of an administrative order rather than quasi-judicial order and the Assessee cannot have any right to choose his Assessing Authority, as no prejudice can be said to have been caused to the Assessee depending upon which Authority of the Department passes the Assessment Order. The Assessee can only be concerned with getting an opportunity of hearing before the concerned Assessing Authority and adduce his evidence and make his submissions before the concerned Assessing Authority. The Income Tax Department has recently introduced a Scheme of Faceless Assessments which will avoid personal hearing and physical interaction of Assessee and Assessing Authority altogether. The Assessee need not even know the name of the Assessing Authority who will deal with his case. The process of hearing appears to have been undertaken by the Assessing Authority who passed the order on 30.12.2016 during the pendency of the writ petition with the permission of the Court, and the Assessment Order to be kept in sealed cover and which was served on the Assessee after the dismissal of the Writ Petition on 0 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... recovery or passing of the order itself or service thereof on the Assessee. 11. In our opinion, therefore, there was an abuse of process of the Court in the writ proceedings by the Assessee and taking advantage of the pending litigation, the Assessee has tried to ride roughshod over the Departmental Authorities which it was not entitled to do. An assessment of the tax liability under the Income Tax Act is an obligation of the Assessing Authority and equally obliged is the Assessee to abide by it subject to his right to avail remedy by way of appeals as provided in the Law. Instead of choosing either availing of those remedies or paying the tax as assessed by the Assessing Authority, the Assessee seems to be resting upon the pendency of the litigation in this Court which in our considered opinion was wholly misconceived in the first instance, and infructuous in any case with the passing of the Assessment Order on 30.12.2016. Therefore, we dismiss this Writ Appeal without interfering with the order of the learned Single Judge in any manner or the Assessment Order passed by the Assessing Authority or the Transfer Order passed by the Revenue Authorities under Section 127 of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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