Independent assessment required before adopting enforcement proposal in tax revision; prior ruling had to be considered afresh.

Assessment orders based solely on an enforcement proposal were challenged on the ground that the assessing authority had not independently considered the assessee's returns and reply. The article notes that the assessment was treated as completed by deeming fiction under Section 22(2), and revision was initiated under Section 27 on information from the departmental website. It also states that the issue had already been decided in an earlier case and, absent any interim stay, the authority was required to examine the returns and material on its own merits rather than merely adopt the enforcement wing's proposal. The impugned orders were set aside and the matter remanded for fresh consideration.

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Issues: Whether the impugned assessment orders, passed on the basis of the enforcement proposal without independent consideration of the assessee's returns and reply, were sustainable.

Analysis: The assessment had been treated as completed by deeming fiction under Section 22(2), and the revision was initiated under Section 27 on the basis of information received from the departmental website. The assessee had submitted a reply and relied on an earlier decision on the same issue. The decisive consideration was that the issue was identical to a previously decided case and, in the absence of any interim order staying that view, the assessing authority was required to consider the returns and material independently rather than merely adopt the proposal forwarded by the enforcement wing.

Conclusion: The impugned orders were liable to be set aside and the matter was remanded for fresh consideration after taking the returns into account.

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