Reasonable opportunity under income-tax notices: Tribunal finding on denial of fair hearing was upheld as supported by materials.

Reasonable opportunity under sections 143(2) and 142(1) was central: the Tribunal found that the assessee had not been given adequate particulars or a fair chance to rebut the notices, and that this amounted to denial of proper opportunity within section 146. That finding was supported by the record and was neither unreasonable nor perverse, so no legal error was shown in the Tribunal's concurrence with the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The reference was answered in favour of the assessee, and the assessment was required to be reconsidered in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal's finding that the assessee had not been afforded a reasonable opportunity to comply with the notices under section 143(2) and section 142(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, or was prevented by sufficient cause from doing so, was unsupported by materials or otherwise unreasonable or perverse.

Analysis: The reference arose from the Tribunal's affirmation of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's view that the assessee had not been given a fair opportunity and that the Income-tax Officer had not supplied adequate particulars to enable an effective rebuttal. The material on record supported the conclusion that the assessee was denied proper opportunity within the meaning of section 146, and the Tribunal's concurrence with that finding disclosed no legal error, perversity, or want of evidentiary basis.

Conclusion: The question was answered in the affirmative in favour of the assessee, and the Tribunal's finding was upheld.

Final Conclusion: The reference was decided by sustaining the Tribunal's view that the assessee had not been denied the benefit of a valid challenge on any legally sustainable ground and that the assessment matter required fresh consideration in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: A finding that an assessee was denied reasonable opportunity under section 146 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, will not be interfered with in reference jurisdiction where it is supported by materials and is neither unreasonable nor perverse.

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