Reopening for escaped income requires bona fide belief on material, not suspicion, when ownership of income remains unresolved.

Reopening under section 34(1)(a) requires a genuine, objective reason to believe, supported by material on record, that income has escaped assessment; mere suspicion is insufficient. Where the same amount was alternatively attributed to the Hindu undivided family, the husband, and the assessee, and no final finding established that it belonged to the assessee, the Income-tax Officer lacked the requisite basis to reopen. In those circumstances, the notice and assessment were invalid, and the statutory condition for reopening was not satisfied.

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Issues: Whether the Income-tax Officer had reason to believe that income had escaped assessment so as to justify reopening under section 34(1)(a) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922.

Analysis: The condition for action under section 34(1)(a) is a genuine reason to believe, supported by material on record, and not a mere suspicion. On the facts, the same sum of Rs. 24,500 had been treated at different stages as belonging alternatively to the Hindu undivided family, the husband, and the assessee, while the Tribunal itself had not recorded a final finding that the amount was the assessee's income. In such circumstances, the Income-tax Officer could not reasonably have formed the requisite belief that the assessee's income had escaped assessment. The Tribunal, being the final fact-finding authority, also could not sustain the reopening without determining conclusively whether the amount belonged to the assessee at all.

Conclusion: The notice and assessment under section 34(1)(a) were invalid, and the question was answered in the negative, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Reopening under section 34(1)(a) requires an objective basis for a bona fide belief that the assessee's income has escaped assessment; where the department itself is uncertain as to the true recipient of the income and no final finding exists, the statutory condition is not satisfied.

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