Supreme Court to Examine Section 147A Validity: Can Jurisdictional Assessing Officers Continue Issuing Reassessment Notices?:

The Supreme Court will on Friday hear the government’s appeal against a Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict that struck down a newly inserted Section 147A of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

The main problem is the legal validity of the reassessment notices issued by ordinary Jurisdictional Assessing Officers (JAOs). The government has moved to a technology-based, faceless system where cases are automatically allotted to Faceless Assessing Officers (FAOs).

Since 2023, many people and companies have challenged the reassessment proceedings started by JAOs, not FAOs. Several High Courts have heard other such cases.

The Finance Act, 2026 inserted Section 147A retrospectively to clarify that the reassessment notice can be issued by a “Assessing Officer” under Sections 148 and 148A. The government, in simple terms, says these notices can continue to be issued by regular assessing officers.

But the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that Section 147A was unconstitutional and not capable of being enforced. This has turned Friday’s Supreme Court hearing into a major event for thousands of ongoing reassessment cases.

In April 2026, the Supreme Court set aside some earlier High Court decisions and left the questions about the validity and retrospective effect of Section 147A open. It asked the High Courts to reconsider the cases, preferably by September 30, 2026.