Recorded reasons sustained reassessment notice, while prior representative-assessee notice was not treated as a precondition on these facts.

Recorded reasons were found sufficient to support jurisdiction for issuance of notice under section 148, so the reassessment notice was upheld. The objection that prior notice under section 163(2) was a precondition to reassessment was not accepted on the facts, because the assessee had filed the return as a representative assessee and had taken the position that the foreign collaborator's payment was not taxable. That contention was left open only for response to the show-cause notice, but it did not defeat the reassessment proceedings.

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Issues: Whether the notice issued under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was jurisdiction for want of recorded reasons, and whether prior notice under section 163(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was a precondition to the reassessment proceedings.

Analysis: The reasons recorded by the Income-tax Officer for issuance of notice under section 148 were reproduced and found sufficient to sustain jurisdiction for initiation of proceedings. The contention based on section 163(2) was not accepted as arising on the facts, since the assessee itself had filed the return on the footing that the payment to the foreign collaborator was not taxable and had done so in the capacity of a representative assessee. The Court, however, kept that contention open for reply to the show-cause notice.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148 was upheld, and the writ petition challenging it was rejected.

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