Section 246 — Appealable Orders before Joint Commissioner (Appeals)

CHAPTER XX — APPEALS AND REVISION | A.—Appeals to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and Commissioner (Appeals)

Section 246 — Appealable Orders before Joint Commissioner (Appeals)

Case Laws & Commentary — Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended by the Finance Act, 2026) — bharattax.co Treatise

Status: Live. Substituted in its present form by the Finance Act, 2023 (Act 8 of 2023) w.e.f. 1-4-2023, creating a new first-appellate tier — the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) [JCIT(A)] — to clear small-demand appeals.

Finance Act, 2026: No amendment. The Finance Act, 2026 does not touch section 246.

Nature / mechanism: First appeal to JCIT(A) against enumerated orders of an Assessing Officer below the rank of Joint Commissioner; appeals against orders passed by/with the approval of an authority above Deputy Commissioner are excluded.

Litigation profile: New tier (2023) — no direct Supreme Court / High Court ruling yet specific to the JCIT(A). The settled jurisprudence on the right of appeal and on appealable orders applies mutatis mutandis.

A. COMMENTARY

The 2023 re-architecture of the first appeal

Section 246, after lying largely dormant once the Deputy Commissioner (Appeals) was phased out, was substituted by the Finance Act, 2023 to constitute the Joint Commissioner (Appeals). The object is docket de-clogging: routine, low-value matters — section 143(1) intimations, 143(3)/144 assessments, 147 reassessments, 200A and 206CB intimations, 201 and 206C(6A) orders, Chapter XXI penalties and 154/155 amendments thereof — are directed to the JCIT(A), reserving the Commissioner (Appeals) for larger and approval-backed orders.

Carve-out by rank of the order-passing authority

The first proviso to sub-section (1) bars a JCIT(A) appeal where the order appealed against is passed by, or with the prior approval of, an income-tax authority above the rank of Deputy Commissioner. Sub-sections (2) and (3) empower the Board to transfer appeals between the JCIT(A) and the Commissioner (Appeals), and sub-section (4) guarantees a re-hearing on transfer.

Faceless disposal and the residual power

Sub-section (5) authorises a faceless scheme for JCIT(A) appeals (eliminating interface, with transparency and accountability), and sub-section (6) lets the Board exclude any case or class of cases. The Explanation defines 'status'. As the provision is procedural machinery, the foundational appellate principles below govern its working.

The authorities collected here are the bedrock principles on the right of appeal and on what is appealable; they apply to the JCIT(A) tier with equal force, the JCIT(A) being, for the orders allotted to it, a first appellate authority of the same genus as the Commissioner (Appeals).

B. STATUTORY TEXT (verbatim)

Reproduced verbatim from the Income-tax Act, 1961 (as amended up to the Finance Act, 2025); the Finance Act, 2026 makes no change to this section. Inline numerals in square brackets are the bare Act's amendment-footnote markers.

61[Appealable orders before Joint Commissioner (Appeals).

246. (1) Any assessee aggrieved by any of the following orders of an Assessing Officer (below the rank of Joint Commissioner) may appeal to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) against—

(a) an order being an intimation under sub-section (1) of section 143, where the assessee objects to the making of adjustments, or any order of assessment under sub-section (3) of section 143 or section 144, where the assessee objects to the amount of income assessed, or to the amount of tax determined, or to the amount of loss computed, or to the status under which he is assessed;

(b) an order of assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147;

(c) an order being an intimation under sub-section (1) of section 200A;

(d) an order under section 201;

(e) an order being an intimation under sub-section (6A) of section 206C;

(f) an order under sub-section (1) of section 206CB;

(g) an order imposing a penalty under Chapter XXI; and

(h) an order under section 154 or section 155 amending any of the orders mentioned in clauses (a) to

(g):

Provided that no appeal shall be filed before the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) if an order referred to in this sub-section is passed by or with the prior approval of, an income-tax authority above the rank of Deputy Commissioner.

(2) Where any appeal filed against an order referred to in sub-section (1) is pending before the Commissioner (Appeals), the Board or an income-tax authority so authorised by the Board in this regard, may transfer such appeal and any matter arising out of or connected with such appeal and which is so pending, to the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) who may proceed with such appeal or matter, from the stage at which it was before it was so transferred.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) and sub-section (2), the Board or an income-tax authority so authorised by the Board in this regard, may transfer any appeal which is pending before a Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and any matter arising out of or connected with such appeal and which is so pending, to the Commissioner (Appeals) who may proceed with such appeal or matter, from the stage at which it was before it was so transferred.

(4) Where an appeal is transferred under the provisions of sub-section (2) or sub-section (3), the appellant shall be given an opportunity of being reheard.

(5) For the purposes of disposal of appeal by the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), the Central Government may make a scheme, by notification in the Official Gazette, so as to dispose of appeals in an expedient manner with transparency and accountability, by eliminating the interface between the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) and the appellant, in the course of appellate proceedings to the extent technologically feasible and direct that any of the provisions of this Act relating to jurisdiction and procedure for disposal of appeals by the Joint Commissioner (Appeals), shall not apply or shall apply with such exceptions, modifications and adaptations as may be specified in the notification.

(6) For the purposes of sub-section (1), the Board may specify that the provisions of that sub-section shall not apply to any case or any class of cases.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section, "status" means the category under which the assessee is assessed as "individual", "Hindu undivided family" and so on.]

C. AUTHORITIES

The right of appeal is a creature of statute and a vested substantive right; an appeal lies only against an order the statute makes appealable.

Cluster 1 — Right of appeal: a vested substantive right

Garikapati Veeraya v. N. Subbiah Choudhry, AIR 1957 SC 540 (Constitution Bench)

Holding The right of appeal is not a mere procedural right but a substantive vested right which accrues on the date the lis commences, and is governed by the law in force at that date unless taken away expressly or by necessary intendment.

Relevance Anchors the proposition that the appeal under section 246 is a substantive right of the assessee, to be construed liberally where its existence is in doubt.

Hoosein Kasam Dada (India) Ltd. v. State of M.P., AIR 1953 SC 221

Holding A pre-existing right of appeal is not destroyed by a subsequent amendment imposing onerous conditions unless the amendment says so; the right is determined by the law as it stood when the proceeding was initiated.

Relevance Supports protection of an accrued right of first appeal against later procedural fetters.

Cluster 2 — Only enumerated orders are appealable; scope of 'denial of liability'

CIT v. Kanpur Coal Syndicate, (1964) 53 ITR 225 (SC)

Holding The first appellate authority's powers are co-terminous with those of the Assessing Officer; it can do all that the Officer can do and direct him to do what he failed to do. An appeal against an option-exercising order (assessment of an AOP versus its members) is maintainable.

Relevance Confirms both the breadth of the appellate power and that genuine grievances of the enumerated class are appealable.

CIT v. Ashoka Engineering Co. line of authority — appeal a statutory creature

Principle It is settled that no appeal lies unless the statute confers it; the orders in section 246(1)(a)-(h) are exhaustive of the JCIT(A)'s appellate reach. An order not within the list is not rendered appealable by hardship — the remedy then lies in revision under section 264 or writ.

Caution Stated as a settled principle; practitioners should test maintainability against the precise clause invoked.

Cluster 3 — Procedure, transfer and faceless disposal (candour)

The JCIT(A) being a 2023 creation, no merits ruling has yet construed sub-sections (2)-(6); the position is governed by the statute and the faceless-scheme notifications, read with general administrative-law principles of natural justice and reasoned orders.

Tin Box Co. v. CIT, (2001) 249 ITR 216 (SC)

Holding An order made without a reasonable opportunity of being heard is liable to be set aside and remitted; natural justice is integral to appellate and assessment machinery.

Relevance Governs the faceless JCIT(A) process under sub-section (5): elimination of interface cannot dilute the right to be heard.