Reassessment without fresh material fails when the sole reopening basis is already set aside as unsustainable.

A reassessment was invalid where the sole basis for reopening was a market committee order that had already been set aside as a non-speaking order passed without reasonable basis and without personal hearing. With no independent enquiry or fresh material to support the reopening, the foundation for reassessment ceased to exist, so the reassessment could not survive and the additions were deleted.

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Issues: Whether reassessment initiated under sections 147 and 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, was sustainable when the only for reopening had itself been set aside by the competent appellate authority under the Punjab Agricultural Produce Market law.

Analysis: The reassessment was founded solely on the market committee order, which had been held to be a non-speaking order passed without reasonable basis and without personal hearing, and was accordingly set aside by the appellate authority. No independent enquiry or fresh material was shown to support the reopening. Once the foundation for the reopening ceased to exist, the reassessment could not survive.

Conclusion: The reassessment was invalid and the additions made by the Assessing Officer were rightly deleted.

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