Natural justice in tax appeals requires hearing the affected party before reversing a partition finding or altering assessment status.

An appellate authority exercising judicial or quasi-judicial power affecting civil rights must observe natural justice unless expressly excluded, so a person whose substantive position is to be altered must be heard before adverse evidence is taken or a contrary finding is recorded. Under the income-tax scheme discussed, notice and inquiry were required before a partition finding could be displaced, and the appellate authority could not validly reverse the assessment of a family member as an individual without hearing him. An order made behind the affected party's back was treated as invalid in law, and the assessment founded on that order could not stand.

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Issues: Whether the Appellate Assistant Commissioner could validly reverse the Income-tax Officer's finding on partition and direct assessment of a member as an individual without hearing that member or giving notice before taking additional evidence.

Analysis: Section 25A required notice and inquiry before an order on partition was recorded at the assessment stage, while section 30 conferred appellate power on the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The appellate function was judicial or quasi-judicial in character, and the rules of natural justice were held to be implied unless expressly excluded. A decision affecting a person's substantive rights could not be made behind that person's back. Since the applicant's position as a member of a joint family was directly altered into individual assessment without being heard, the appellate order was treated as invalid in law, and the assessment founded on it could not stand.

Conclusion: The Appellate Assistant Commissioner was bound to hear the affected member before recording a contrary finding and taking additional evidence, and the assessment made on the basis of the invalid appellate order was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an appellate authority exercises judicial or quasi-judicial power affecting civil rights, the principles of natural justice are implied and a decision taken without hearing the affected party is not valid in law.

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