Power to transfer cases
Section 127 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 deals with power to transfer cases. The Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter, wherever it is possible to do so, and after recording his reasons f The Act came into force on 01 Apr 1962. Repealed by the Income-tax Act, 2025 with effect from 1 April 2026, but conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under it.
(1) The Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may, after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter, wherever it is possible to do so, and after recording his reasons for doing so, transfer any case from one or more Assessing Officers subordinate to him (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) to any other Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) also subordinate to him.
(2) Where the Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers from whom the case is to be transferred and the Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers to whom the case is to be transferred are not subordinate to the same Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner,—
(a) where the Principal Directors General or Directors General or Principal Chief Commissioners or Chief Commissioners or Principal Commissioners or Commissioners to whom such Assessing Officers are subordinate are in agreement, then the Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner from whose jurisdiction the case is to be transferred may, after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter, wherever it is possible to do so, and after recording his reasons for doing so, pass the order;
(b) where the Principal Directors General or Directors General or Principal Chief Commissioners or Chief Commissioners or Principal Commissioners or Commissioners aforesaid are not in agreement, the order transferring the case may, similarly, be passed by the Board or any such Principal Director General or Director General or Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner or Principal Commissioner or Commissioner as the Board may, by notification in the Official Gazette, authorise in this behalf.
(3) Nothing in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall be deemed to require any such opportunity to be given where the transfer is from any Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) to any other Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers (whether with or without concurrent jurisdiction) and the offices of all such officers are situated in the same city, locality or place.
(4) The transfer of a case under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) may be made at any stage of the proceedings, and shall not render necessary the re-issue of any notice already issued by the Assessing Officer or Assessing Officers from whom the case is transferred.
Explanation.—In section 120 and this section, the word "case", in relation to any person whose name is specified in any order or direction issued thereunder, means all proceedings under this Act in respect of any year which may be pending on the date of such order or direction or which may have been completed on or before such date, and includes also all proceedings under this Act which may be commenced after the date of such order or direction in respect of any year.
Functions of Inspectors of Income-tax. 128. [Omitted by the Direct Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, 1987, w.e.f. 1-4-1988.]
Change of incumbent of an office.
Section 127, The Income-tax Act, 1961 (Act 43 of 1961).
Now in the Income-tax Act
INCOME-TAX-ACT-2025 243 Power to transfer cases Official correspondence
Measured by comparing the text of the two provisions, not taken from an official correspondence table — there is no machine-readable one. See both texts side by side before relying on it.
Both regimes are live. The repealed enactment still governs what happened while it was in force. We never redirect one to the other.
Cross-references
Extracted from the operative text of the enactments themselves. Every destination below exists in our corpus.
This section refers to
Related judgements & precedents
These are some judgments that construed this section, and hold precedence value. They hold authority on how to read, interpret and use this section.
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Kuber Khanpan Udyog Pvt. Ltd.& ANR. vs Union of India and 10 ORS
Court's Decision & Legal Precedent
An order of transfer under Section 127(2) of the Income Tax Act is quasi-judicial; failure to disclose the specific reasons for the proposed transfer in the show-cause notice vitiates the resulting order as it denies the assessee a fair opportunity for effective representation.
On this section: Power of authorities to transfer cases from one jurisdiction to another after providing opportunity of being heard.
The holding above is the ratio decidendi as extracted from the judgment by eCourts India, reproduced unaltered — it is a rendering of the court's reasoning, not a substitute for its words. Read the order itself before relying on it.
Questions about Section 127
What have the courts held on Section 127 of the Income-tax Act?
Kuber Khanpan Udyog Pvt. Ltd.& ANR. vs Union of India and 10 ORS (25 Feb 2016) is the leading judgment on this section among those set out below: Power of authorities to transfer cases from one jurisdiction to another after providing opportunity of being heard.
How do I find court cases under Section 127 of the Income-tax Act?
In judgments and charge sheets this section is written several ways, and each form finds a different set of orders. These search the full text of every order eCourtsIndia holds, best matches first: Income Tax Act 127, section 127 Income Tax Act, section 127 of the Income-tax Act. Each opens the full list of orders on eCourtsIndia, where it can be narrowed by court, year and outcome. 1 reported judgment on this section is set out on this page, beginning with Kuber Khanpan Udyog Pvt. Ltd.& ANR. vs Union of India and 10 ORS (25 Feb 2016).
What should I read with Section 127 of the Income-tax Act, and has it changed?
Its own text turns on section 120 (Jurisdiction of income-tax authorities), so none of them can safely be read on its own. 3 other provisions in this corpus refer back to it. For anything done on or after 1 April 2026 the provision to read is Income-tax Act, 2025, section 243 (Power to transfer cases), which replaced it; conduct before that date is still charged, tried and appealed under this section.
When did Section 127 of the Income-tax Act come into force?
Section 127 of the Income-tax Act, cited as Income Tax Act 127, came into force on 01 Apr 1962, having been enacted on 13 Sep 1961. It is no longer in force.
Other sections of this Act
- 10. Incomes not included in total income30885 words
- 2. Definitions11419 words
- 80HHF. Deduction in respect of profits and gains from export or transfer of film software, etc7148 words
- 80-IB. Deduction in respect of profits and gains from certain industrial undertakings other than infrastructure development undertakings5474 words
- 155. Other amendments5451 words
- 139. Return of income5400 words
Source and method. Compiled from the enactments of Parliament and of the State legislatures as published on India Code, and republished together with commentary and other original matter under section 52(1)(q)(ii) of the Copyright Act, 1957. Structured, cross-referenced and maintained by eCourtsIndia. Recovered from the consolidated text published by the Income Tax Department, as amended by the Finance Act, 2026. India Code holds no record of this Act in any form. This page is not a substitute for legal advice.