Effective service of notice governs assessment list amendments; late receipt bars retrospective revision but may support later years.

Section 126 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act requires notice to be effectively communicated before an assessment list can be amended; mere dispatch is not enough, and notice is treated as given only on service or tender under the statutory scheme. On that footing, a notice received after the close of the relevant assessment year cannot operate retrospectively for that year. The same notice may still support amendment for subsequent assessment years, provided the proceedings are completed within the prescribed time under Section 126(4) and the statutory scheme permits adoption of the revised rateable value.

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Issues: (i) Whether a notice under Section 126 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 received after the close of the relevant assessment year was invalid as time-barred for that year. (ii) Whether the same notice could validly support amendment of the assessment list for subsequent assessment years.

Issue (i): Whether a notice under Section 126 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 received after the close of the relevant assessment year was invalid as time-barred for that year.

Analysis: Section 126 requires the Commissioner to give notice before amending the assessment list. The expression "give" connotes effective communication of the notice and is not satisfied by mere dispatch. Read with the scheme of service under Section 444, the notice is treated as given only when it is served on or tendered to the affected person. Since the notice was received after the relevant year had ended, it could not operate to revise the assessment retrospectively for that year.

Conclusion: The notice was invalid for revising the assessment list for the earlier assessment year, and the assessee succeeded on this issue.

Issue (ii): Whether the same notice could validly support amendment of the assessment list for subsequent assessment years.

Analysis: The bar against retrospective amendment applied only to the year for which the notice was not effectively given. The notice itself was not invalidated, and the statutory scheme under Sections 124, 126 and 127 permitted amendment and adoption of the revised rateable value for later years, provided the proceedings were completed within the prescribed period under Section 126(4). The Explanation to Section 126(4) did not defeat this consequence.

Conclusion: The notice could validly support amendment for subsequent assessment years, and this issue was decided in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded only to the extent that the assessment could not operate retrospectively for the earlier year, but it was upheld for the later assessment years.

Ratio Decidendi: For amendment of an assessment list, a notice is "given" only upon effective service or tendering, not upon mere dispatch, and a notice ineffective for a prior assessment year may still sustain assessment for subsequent years if the statutory time limits are satisfied.

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