Jurisdiction depends on duly served notice; affixation at an abandoned business premises was insufficient, voiding reassessment proceedings.

Duly served notice is a jurisdictional prerequisite for reassessment under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948. Service by affixation is the weakest mode of service and can be accepted only where avoidance of service is shown and the factual basis for that mode is established. On the admitted facts, the firm had already been dissolved, the premises affixed were no longer used by it, and the shop had been let to another person; these assertions were not specifically denied. Service on the old business premises was therefore not lawful, the assessing officer lacked jurisdiction, and the impugned order could not stand.

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Issues: Whether the notice under section 21 of the U.P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 was duly served so as to sustain the proceedings and the impugned order passed thereunder.

Analysis: The proceedings arose from reassessment for the assessment year 1977-78. The petitioner asserted that the firm had been dissolved before the notice was issued, that the premises where affixation was made were no longer being used by the firm, and that the shop had been let out to another person. These material averments were not specifically denied in the counter-affidavit. The Court treated service by affixation as the weakest mode of service and held that it could be resorted to only where avoidance of service by the partners is shown. On the admitted and uncontroverted facts, the service of notice by affixation on the old business premises could not be accepted as lawful service.

Conclusion: The notice under section 21 was not duly served, the assessing officer lacked jurisdiction to pass the impugned order, and the writ petition was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: A notice conferring jurisdiction must be duly served, and service by affixation is valid only where lawful service is avoided and the factual basis for such mode is established.

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