Forged partnership deed cannot support tax registration, and later signed documents do not cure the original invalidity.

Registration under the Income-tax Act requires a validly constituted firm supported by a genuine partnership instrument. Section 185(2) permits rectification of defects in the registration application, but it does not cure a deed that is void from inception because of forgery. A forged partnership deed cannot be validated by later execution of fresh documents or signed forms, and such later documents do not relate back to the original date. Where the original deed was forged and one purported partner was a minor, no genuine firm existed for the relevant years, so cancellation of registration was upheld.

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Issues: Whether cancellation of registration of the firm under section 186(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was valid where the original partnership deed and registration application were forged and whether later signed documents could cure the defect and relate back to the original date.

Analysis: Registration under the Income-tax Act is available only where there is a validly constituted firm supported by a genuine instrument of partnership. Section 185(2) enables rectification of defects in the application for registration, but it does not authorise the Assessing Officer to validate an instrument that is void from inception because of forgery. A document bearing forged signatures does not become genuine merely because the partners later execute a fresh deed or sign fresh forms. The statutory opportunity to explain or rectify cannot be used to create rights from an instrument that was never validly executed. Since the original deed was forged and one person was shown as a partner despite being a minor, there was no genuine firm in existence for the relevant years.

Conclusion: The cancellation of registration was valid and the assessee could not claim that the later documents cured the original forgery or related back to the original date.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the cancellation of registration failed because a forged partnership deed could not support valid registration under the Act, and the subsequent execution of fresh documents did not revive the original invalid instrument.

Ratio Decidendi: Section 185(2) permits only rectification of defects in a registration application and does not confer power to validate a forged or void partnership instrument; registration can stand only on a genuine and validly constituted firm.

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