Rectification confined to apparent record errors; external material and change of opinion cannot sustain a revised coffee-income demand.

Rectification under the Act is confined to errors apparent from the assessment record and cannot be used to revise a concluded assessment on the basis of external material or a mere change of opinion. Here, the original assessment was made on the return showing coffee sale price at Rs. 5.50 per point, and no contrary Coffee Board fixation was apparent from the record at that stage. The court further noted that the coffee income rule, including the proviso on excess receipts of an earlier season, required treatment within the relevant assessment framework and did not justify rectification. The rectification order and consequential demand notice were therefore set aside.

---

---

Issues: Whether the rectification order and consequential demand notice could be sustained when the alleged error was not apparent from the assessment record, and whether the assessment rules dealing with coffee income barred such rectification.

Analysis: Rectification under the Act is confined to errors apparent from the record, and not to matters discovered from outside sources or by subsequent investigation. On the facts, the original assessment was made on the basis of the return showing the coffee sale price at Rs. 5.50 per point, and there was nothing on record at that stage to show a different Coffee Board fixation. The purported basis for rectification therefore depended on material outside the record and amounted to a change of opinion rather than correction of an apparent mistake. In addition, the assessment rule governing coffee income, including the proviso dealing with excess receipts of an earlier season, supported the view that any such excess was to be dealt with in the relevant assessment framework and did not justify rectification of the concluded assessment.

Conclusion: The rectification order and the consequent demand notice were without jurisdiction and liable to be set aside, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Rectification is impermissible where the alleged error is not apparent from the assessment record and the authority is effectively seeking to revise the assessment on the basis of external material or a mere change of opinion.

---