Reassessment notice under section 148 fails where recorded reasons are absent before reopening jurisdiction is exercised.

A reassessment notice under section 148 was held unsustainable where the assessing authority had not shown that reasons were recorded before invoking jurisdiction. The prior recording of reasons is a jurisdictional requirement for reopening an assessment, and its absence could not be cured by a later letter communicating reasons. On the facts described, the failure to produce the recorded reasons and the absence of a return from the officer said to have recorded them meant the statutory precondition was not met, and the notice was quashed.

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Issues: Whether notice for reassessment under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was sustainable in the absence of recorded reasons before exercise of jurisdiction.

Analysis: The power to reopen an assessment under section 148 depends upon the existence and prior recording of reasons by the assessing authority. In the absence of production of the recorded reasons, and where no return was filed by the officer who allegedly recorded them, the Court held that the jurisdictional requirement was not satisfied. The reasons later communicated in a letter could not substitute for the statutory obligation to record reasons before issuing the notice.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148 was jurisdiction and was liable to be quashed; the petition succeeded.

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