Allowed

Munish Kumar v. Income Tax Officer Ward 5(5) Chandigarh and Others

Punjab & Haryana HC10 Sept 2026CWP/13763/2025

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

The petitioner challenged a Section 148 notice issued post-faceless assessment notification. Relying on coordinate bench precedents, the court held the notice was invalid as it could not be issued by the Jurisdictional AO.

What did the court decide?

The impugned notice dated 20.03.2024 (Annexure P-1) is quashed. Liberty is granted to respondents to proceed in accordance with law.

Munish Kumar Vs Income Tax Officer Ward 5(5) Chandigarh… — Income Tax | Punjab & Haryana HC (2026)

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CWP-13763-2025 (O&M)

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Sr. No.134

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

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CWP-13763-2025 (O&M) Date of Decision : 14.05.2025

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Munish Kumar …Petitioner

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Versus

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Income Tax Officer, Ward 5 (5) Chandigarh a n d others

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…Respondents

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CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK SIBAL HON’BLE MS. JUSTICE LAPITA BANERJI

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Present : M r. Kartik Bansal, Advocate, f o r the petitioner. M r.Vaibhav Gupta, Advocate, f o r the Income Tax Department-r e spondents.

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DEEPAK SIBAL, J. (Oral)

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C hallenge made through the in s tant petition is to the notice dated 20.03.2 0 24 (Annexure P-1) issued to th e petitioner by the respondents under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1 961. The primary ground of challenge raised by the petitioner is that the impugned notice has been issued by the Jurisdictional Assessing Offic e r which could have not been done because i n terms of the notification date d 29.03.2022 (Annexure P-2), issued by the Ministry of Finance, Govern m ent of India, the impugned notice could h a ve been issued only by way of f aceless assessment. 2. I n support of his afore submis s ion, learned counsel for the petitioner places reliance on the following tw o judgments of this Court:-

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i. CW P -15745-2024, titled Jatinder Singh Bhangu Vs. Union of India and others, decided on 19.07. 2 024; and ii. CW P -21509-2023, titled Jasjit Singh Vs. Union of India and others , decided on 29.07.2024.

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VANDANA 2025.05.15 17:06 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document

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Page 1 of 2

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CWP-13763-2025 (O&M)

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Learned counsel for the respond e nts does not dispute the fact that the case o f the petitioner is covered in hi s favour by the law laid down through the a f oresaid two judgments rendere d by two different co-ordinate Benches of th i s Court in Jatinder Singh Bhangu and Jasjit Singh ( supra) . 4. I n the light of the above, in te r ms of the law laid down in Jatinder Singh Bhangu and Jasjit Singh ( supra), the impugned notice dated 20.03.2 0 24 (Annexure P-1), issued b y the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer, is her e by quashed with liberty to the r espondents to proceed against the petitioner i n accordance with law.