Reassessment reopening under section 147(b) fails without record support for statutory preconditions and valid material

A notice reopening assessment under section 147(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 cannot be sustained unless the record shows compliance with the statutory preconditions for reassessment. Where the Revenue filed no affidavit-in-reply and produced no departmental file, the Court found no reliable basis to conclude that clause (b) conditions were satisfied. An unverified scrap of paper was insufficient to justify reopening. The reassessment notice dated 11 October 1982 was therefore quashed for non-compliance with the statutory requirements.

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Issues: Whether the notice reopening the assessment under section 147(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was sustainable in the absence of any material placed before the Court to show that the statutory conditions for reopening had been satisfied.

Analysis: The assessment related to assessment year 1978-79 and the reopening notice was issued without any affidavit-in-reply from the Revenue or production of the departmental file. In these circumstances, there was no reliable basis on which the Court could conclude that the conditions prescribed by clause (b) of section 147 had been fulfilled. The attempt to justify the reopening on the basis of an unverified scrap of paper was rejected as insufficient.

Conclusion: The notice dated 11 October 1982 was quashed as having been issued without compliance with the statutory preconditions for reassessment.

Ratio Decidendi: A notice for reopening assessment under section 147(b) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 cannot stand unless the record shows compliance with the statutory preconditions for reassessment.

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