Registered post service is rebuttable when a tax notice returns "not found", invalidating best judgment assessment.

Under the Kerala Agricultural Income-tax Act, service of a pre-assessment notice by registered post creates only a rebuttable presumption of due service. That presumption is displaced where the cover is returned with the endorsement "not found," because the notice cannot then be treated as tendered or delivered. The statutory scheme requires personal service in the first instance, substituted service if the person cannot be found, and registered post to the last known residence or business. On that basis, the assessing authority could not rely on mere posting to support a best judgment assessment under section 18(4), and the notice-based assessment and revisional order were illegal.

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Issues: Whether a pre-assessment notice sent by registered post and returned with the endorsement "not found" amounted to valid service under the Kerala Agricultural Income-tax Act before making a best judgment assessment.

Analysis: The statutory scheme contemplates personal service in the first instance, substituted service if the person cannot be found, and service by registered post at the last known residence or business. Service by registered post gives rise only to a presumption of due service. That presumption is founded on legal fiction and is rebuttable. Where the registered cover is returned with the postal endorsement that the addressee was not found, the presumption of due service stands displaced, because the notice cannot be treated as having been tendered or delivered in such circumstances. The assessing authority therefore could not rely on mere posting to uphold service for the purpose of section 18(4) assessment.

Conclusion: The notice was not validly served, and the best judgment assessment and the revisional order were illegal and liable to be quashed in favour of the assessee.

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