Assessment merger limits revisional power after appellate disposal, barring Commissioner interference with the final appellate order.

Where an assessment order is carried in appeal and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner passes a final order, the original assessment merges in the appellate order. Section 33-B revisional power was confined to the Income-tax Officer's original order, so the Commissioner could not revise or enhance the assessment after appellate disposal. Any attempt to do so would amount to impermissible interference with the appellate order, which had attained finality. The revisional order was therefore incompetent once merger occurred.

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Issues: Whether the Commissioner could revise an assessment under Section 33-B after the assessee's appeal against the Income-tax Officer's order had been heard and disposed of by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.

Analysis: Section 33-B conferred revisional power only in relation to the order of the Income-tax Officer. Once the assessee preferred an appeal and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner passed a final order, the original assessment order merged in the appellate order. The Commissioner's attempt to enhance the assessment was therefore not a revision of the Income-tax Officer's order but an impermissible interference with the appellate order. The breadth of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's appellate powers and the finality of the appellate disposal reinforced that the Commissioner was excluded once merger occurred.

Conclusion: The Commissioner had no jurisdiction under Section 33-B after the appeal had been disposed of by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered against the Revenue and the revisional order was held incompetent because the assessment had merged in the appellate order.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessment order is carried in appeal and the appellate authority passes a final order, the original order merges in the appellate order and the Commissioner cannot exercise revisional power confined to the original order.

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