Reassessment on mere change of opinion barred where Section 34 required definite information after the 1939 amendment.

After the 1939 amendment to Section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, reopening an assessment required definite information showing escapement or under-assessment. A mere change of view by the Income-tax Officer, including a successor officer correcting an earlier interpretation of the same law on the same materials, was only a change of opinion and did not amount to definite information. The text notes that definite information may sometimes arise from a later court decision or a new statutory provision, but not from a fresh legal opinion on the same enactment. On that basis, reopening was held impermissible where it rested only on a mistaken view of law.

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Issues: Whether, after the 1939 amendment to Section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1939, an assessment could be reopened merely because the Income-tax Officer had taken a mistaken view of the law and had thus under-assessed tax.

Analysis: The amended Section 34 permitted reopening only where the Income-tax Officer discovered escapement or under-assessment in consequence of definite information coming into his possession. A mere reappraisal of the same statute, or a corrected view of the legal position by a successor officer, was only a change of opinion and not definite information. The reasoning accepted that definite information may in some cases consist of a later court decision or a new statutory provision, but not a fresh legal opinion on the same materials and the same enactment. The earlier assessment had been made under the same Finance Act, and the successor officer acted only on a different interpretation of that law.

Conclusion: Reopening on the basis of a mistaken view of law, without definite information, was not permissible; the question was answered in the negative and in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: After the 1939 amendment, Section 34 could be invoked only on definite information and not on a mere change of opinion or correction of a prior mistake of law on the same material.

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