Reassessment notice to a deceased assessee is invalid when legal representatives are known and not properly named.

A notice under section 34 issued to a deceased assessee was invalid where the Department knew of the death and knew the legal representatives. Section 24B(2) required reassessment notice to be issued to the executor, administrator, or legal representatives, and continued use of the deceased's name did not cure the jurisdictional defect. Affixation at the residence or business premises of the legal representatives could not convert the notice into a valid one. As a result, the proposed reassessment could not be sustained and the challenge succeeded.

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Issues: Whether a notice issued under section 34 of the Income-tax Act, addressed to a dead person instead of his legal representatives, was valid and could sustain the proposed assessment.

Analysis: A notice under section 34 was the foundation of jurisdiction for proceedings to reassess income. Where the assessee had already died, section 24B(2) required the notice to be issued to the executor, administrator, or legal representatives. The record showed that the Department knew of the death and also knew who the legal representatives were, yet the notice and subsequent communications were continued in the name of the deceased. A notice so addressed could not be treated as a valid notice to a living person merely because it was affixed at the house where the legal representatives resided or carried on business.

Conclusion: The notice was invalid, the proposed assessment could not be made, and the writ petition succeeded in favour of the assessee.

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