Final partition recognition bars reassessment from reclassifying assessee status as a Hindu undivided family.

An assessment status finally determined under the partition-recognition provision cannot be indirectly reopened through reassessment. Once partition had been accepted and the assessee's status fixed, section 147 could not be used as a substitute for unsettling that final order. The court applied the principle that a completed determination under section 171 binds the Revenue unless set aside through appropriate proceedings, and reassessment cannot be deployed to vary the recognised status of a Hindu undivided family.

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Issues: Whether, after an order recognising partition and altering the assessee's status under section 171, the Revenue could reopen the assessment under section 147 to treat the assessee as a Hindu undivided family.

Analysis: An order passed under section 171 determining and accepting the partition had already become final. The court followed the principle laid down in the earlier decision construing the corresponding provisions of the 1922 Act, namely that once the status of an assessee is determined under the partition-recognition provision, that status cannot be indirectly reopened or varied through reassessment proceedings. A reassessment under section 147 cannot be used as a substitute for disturbing a final order under section 171.

Conclusion: The Revenue could not reopen the assessee's status under section 147 after the final order under section 171, and the answer was in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

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