V. KAMESWAR RAO , J. (ORAL)

1. The captioned petitions have been filed impugning notices issued under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act) by the respondent who is the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer (JAO). The contentions of the petitioner is that the said notices and all subsequent proceedings emanating there from are wholly without jurisdiction void ab intio and in contravention to the statutory scheme under Section 151A of the Act read with “E Assessment of Income Escaping Assessment Scheme, 2022” (the Scheme).

2. As the present petitions agitate a common issue, i.e., whether the JAO would have the jurisdiction to initiate reassessment proceedings under Section 148 of the Act, we may proceed to decide them together.

3. The contention of Mr. Kumail Abbas, learned counsel for the petitioners is that on 31.03.2023, the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2022 (TOLA) inserted Section 151A into the Act, mandating that all notices under Section 148 of the Act must be issued by the Faceless Assessing Officer (FAO) alone. In furtherance, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) vide notification S.O.1466(E) dated 29.03.2022 introduce