A case can be transferred from one Assessing Officer to the other Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers, after giving the assessee reasonable opportunity of being heard and after recording the reasons for transfer. However, if the Assessing Officer, from whom the case is to be transferred and the Assessing Officer, to whom the case is to be transferred, are not subordinate to the same Commissioner, the Commissioner from whose jurisdiction, the case is to be transferred, would pass order after giving the assessee, a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after recording his reasons, if the transferring Commissioner and the Commissioner, within whose jurisdiction the case is transferred, are in agreement for such transfer. A careful perusal of section 127(2)(a) would show that only when those two Commissioners are in agreement, the transferring Commissioner would issue notice to the assessee and pass orders by giving reasons, that too after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard. Therefore, it is evident that only when there is an agreement between the two Commissioners, the event of issuing show-cause notice itself would arise from the transferring Commissioner. In other words, the very conduct of the transferring Commissioner in issuing the show-cause notice itself is enough for drawing a legal inference that both Commissioners are in agreement to transfer the case. MRL Posnet P. Ltd. v. Principal Commissioner of Income-tax [2019] 418 ITR 349 (Mad).
