140 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: January 29, 2026 JYOTI MALHOTRA .....Petitioner Versus INCOME TAX OFFICER WARD 1(3) FARIDABAD AND OTHERS ..... Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE LISA GILL HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAMESH CHANDER DIMRI Present: Mr. Kartik Bansal, Advocate for the petitioner Mr. Varun Issar, Senior Standing counsel with Ms. Pridhi Sandhu, Junior Standing counsel for the respondent-Income Tax Department.

****

LISA GILL, J.

1. Challenge in the present petition is to notice dated 19.05.2025 under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short ‘Act 1961”), for the Assessment year 2022-23, and all subsequent proceedings on the ground that Issuing Authority had no jurisdiction to issue the same, in view of circular/notification dated 29.03.2022 of the CBDT, wherein, it has been specifically enumerated that National Faceless Assessment Centre (NFAC) has exclusive power to issue notice under Section 148 of the Act, 1961.

2. Learned counsel for petitioner contends that the issue involved in the present writ petition is covered by judgment passed by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the cases of Jatinder Singh Bhangu vs. Union of