Section 244 of the Income-tax Act, 2025

Where this section sits

Section 244 is in Chapter XIV — Tax Administration, which runs from section 236 to section 261.

← Section 243  ·  Section 245 →

What this section does

Sub-section (1) allows continuity when jurisdiction changes hands: where, in respect of any proceeding under the Act, an income-tax authority ceases to exercise jurisdiction and is succeeded by another who has and exercises it, the successor may continue the proceeding from the stage at which the predecessor left it.

Sub-section (2) gives the assessee a countervailing right. Before the proceeding is so continued, the assessee concerned may demand that the previous proceeding or any part of it be reopened, or that he be reheard before any order of assessment is passed against him.

Why it is there

Transfers and postings would otherwise force every part-heard proceeding to start again. The section keeps the file moving but attaches a safeguard, so a person whose case was argued before one officer is not judged on that record by another without the chance to demand a reopening or a rehearing.

Who it applies to

• An income-tax authority who ceases to exercise jurisdiction in a proceeding, and the authority who succeeds
• The assessee concerned, who may make the demand under sub-section (2)

What this means in practice

The right in sub-section (2) is a demand, not an automatic entitlement, and it is bounded by the successor's next step rather than by any number of days: it has to come before the proceeding is continued. Because sub-section (1) is drafted for any proceeding under the Act, the same protection is available outside assessment. The section does not say what the successor must do with the demand, so its practical value lies in making it early and on the record.

An example

An assessment is part-heard when the Assessing Officer is transferred. The successor may take it up from the stage it stood at, without repeating what has been done. If the assessee wants the earlier proceeding or part of it reopened, or wants to be reheard before the order is passed, sub-section (2) requires the demand to be made before the successor continues the proceeding — the section gives no such right once the order has been passed.

Where you meet this section

You meet it when a hearing notice in a part-heard proceeding arrives over a different officer's name. That is the point at which the demand under sub-section (2) has to be made.

The words themselves

What people get wrong

• Assuming a change of officer restarts the proceeding. Sub-section (1) lets the successor continue from where the predecessor left it.
• Raising the demand after the order is passed. Sub-section (2) places it before the proceeding is continued.
• Expecting the successor to offer a rehearing. The assessee has to demand it.
• Confining the section to assessments. Sub-section (1) covers any proceeding under the Act where jurisdiction passes between income-tax authorities.

What this replaced

• 129 - Change of incumbent of an office

See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.

Case law carried across

• Dy CIT v Mastech Technologies P Ltd Supreme CourtHelps departmenttagged s.129
  The AO who issued my 148 notice was transferred and his successor issued another. Is the reassessment time-barred?
• B. Mohammad Iqbal v ACIT High CourtHelps taxpayertagged s.129
  The section 276CC complaint against me was filed by an Assistant Commissioner although my case was with the Income-tax Officer, and no assessment was…