The Supreme Court on September 18, 2026, stayed the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment declaring Section 147A of the Income Tax Act, 1961 unconstitutional. The order came in the Union Government’s challenge to the High Court ruling concerning the authority to issue reassessment notices.
Background
The dispute concerns whether reassessment notices under Section 148 can be issued directly by a taxpayer’s Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO), or whether they must follow the faceless mechanism under Section 151A and the 2022 scheme.
Parliament introduced Section 147A retrospectively from April 1, 2021, stating that the Assessing Officer for Sections 148 and 148A would mean an officer other than the National Faceless Assessment Centre.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court later struck down the provision, holding that it did not cure the defect identified in earlier rulings because the faceless reassessment framework remained unchanged.
A Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran stayed the High Court judgment.
The Court ordered:
“The impugned order shall remain stayed on the condition that assessment as well as reassessment proceedings shall not proceed further till final disposal of the main matter.”
The Supreme Court accordingly stayed the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment, with assessment and reassessment proceedings directed not to proceed further until final disposal of the matter.
The matter has been listed for final hearing on December 3, 2026.
 chief. Eknath Shinde – Shiv Sena leader-300x169.webp)
-300x169.webp)
