Assessment reopening notice must state the correct assessment year clearly; contradictory notices invalidate reassessment proceedings.

A notice reopening assessment under section 34(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 must identify the relevant assessment year with certainty, because it is a condition precedent to reassessment. Different documents may be read together only if they are shown to be related and intended as one composite notice. Here, one notice referred to assessment year 1949-50 while the accompanying notice under section 22(2) referred to 1950-51, with no indication that they were complementary. The contradiction on the assessment year destroyed the requisite clarity, so the reopening notice was invalid and reassessment could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether a notice issued for reopening an assessment under section 34(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 was valid when the notice itself referred to one assessment year but another accompanying notice referred to a different assessment year.

Analysis: A notice under section 34(1)(a) is a condition precedent to the validity of reassessment proceedings and must specify the assessment year with clarity and particularity. Such a notice need not always be confined to a single document, but different documents can be read together only where they are shown to be related and intended to form part of one composite notice. Here, the notice under section 34(1)(a) was complete in itself and related to assessment year 1949-50, while the accompanying notice under section 22(2) related to assessment year 1950-51. There was no reference in either notice to the other and no indication that they were meant to be complementary. Even if read together, the notices disclosed a clear contradiction on the assessment year, so the requisite certainty was absent.

Conclusion: The notice under section 34(1)(a) for assessment year 1950-51 was invalid in law.

Final Conclusion: Reassessment could not be sustained for the assessment year in respect of which the notice was defective, and the reference was answered against the Revenue on that issue.

Ratio Decidendi: A notice reopening assessment must identify the relevant assessment year with certainty, and where multiple documents are relied on as one notice, they are valid only if they together disclose a clear and unambiguous composite notice; a patent contradiction on the assessment year renders the notice invalid.

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