Demand notice limitation under the Income-tax Act cannot be implied from the prescribed form; notice remained valid on the facts.

Section 29 of the Income-tax Act, 1922 did not prescribe any express limitation period for service of a demand notice, and the prescribed form could not be used to read an implied time bar into the statute. The court treated the notice as valid where assessment proceedings had caused delay and the assessee had already received earlier intimation of the assessed amount. On those facts, the later formal demand was issued within a reasonable time and was not time-barred, so the assessee could not resist payment on the ground of delay.

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Issues: Whether a notice of demand under Section 29 of the Income-tax Act, 1922, issued after the expiry of the assessment year was invalid for want of limitation and whether the prescribed form of notice created an implied time limit.

Analysis: The statutory scheme contained no express period of limitation for service of a demand notice under Section 29. The prescribed form, though ordinarily referring to the current year, could not be treated as creating a substantive restriction not found in the Act itself. The court also noted that assessments and consequential demand notices might, in some cases, necessarily be delayed by assessment proceedings. In the circumstances of the case, the assessee had already received earlier intimation of the assessed amount, and the later formal demand was held to have been issued within a reasonable time.

Conclusion: The notice of demand was valid, and the assessee was not entitled to avoid payment on the ground of delay.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered against the assessee, holding that Section 29 did not impose an implied limitation period and that the demand in the facts of the case was not time-barred.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Income-tax Act prescribes no time limit for service of a demand notice, the prescribed form cannot itself create a limitation period, and the notice remains valid if issued within a reasonable time.

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