Legal representative liability for income concealment extends to penalty proceedings under the Income-tax Act.

A legal representative assessed under section 24B(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 can be treated as the assessee for assessment of the deceased person's income, so the assessed income is regarded as the representative's income for purposes of the Act's assessment and penalty machinery. A concealment or inaccurate particulars default in the return filed by the legal representative under section 22(2) therefore attracts section 28(1)(c), because that penalty provision operates on concealment of "his income" and is not excluded by the absence of an express penalty reference in section 24B(2). Penalty proceedings are thus maintainable against the legal representative in respect of the deceased's assessed income.

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Issues: Whether a legal representative assessed under section 24B(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 can be proceeded against under section 28(1)(c) for concealing particulars of income or furnishing inaccurate particulars in the return filed in that representative capacity.

Analysis: Section 24B(2) authorises assessment of the deceased person's total income in the hands of the legal representative as if that representative were the assessee. The fiction is not limited to a nominal substitution of parties for assessment purposes alone; it necessarily treats the income assessed in that proceeding as the income of the legal representative for the purposes of the Act so far as the assessment machinery and consequential liability are concerned. The absence in section 24B(2) of the words "for all the purposes of the Act" does not confine the fiction to a narrower compass, because the section must work consistently with the charging and assessment scheme under sections 3 and 23. Since section 28 operates on a person who has concealed particulars of "his income" or furnished inaccurate particulars of such income, a default committed in a return required from the legal representative under section 22(2) in respect of the deceased's income assessed through him falls within the scope of section 28. The fact that section 24B(2) speaks only of assessment and not of penalty does not exclude the penalty jurisdiction, because the source of penalty power lies in section 28 itself.

Conclusion: Yes. A penalty under section 28(1)(c) is maintainable against the legal representative in respect of concealment or furnishing of inaccurate particulars in the return filed by him for the deceased person's income, and the reference is answered in favour of the revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the Income-tax Act deems a legal representative to be the assessee for assessment of a deceased person's income, the assessed income is treated as the representative's income for the purpose of penalty provisions under section 28, and the absence of an express penalty clause in section 24B(2) does not bar such proceedings.

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