Statutory amalgamation and tax proceedings: successor bank can continue refund appeals and act as assessee for the transferor.

A statutory amalgamation can transfer a predecessor bank's assets, liabilities, rights, obligations and pending tax proceedings to the successor bank, and the successor may then act in the predecessor's place for income-tax purposes. The relevant income-tax provisions treated an assessee as including a person in respect of whom assessment or refund proceedings had been taken, and the succession rules allowed the successor to step into pending proceedings where the predecessor could no longer be found. On that basis, the successor bank was competent to continue appeals arising from assessment and refund claims originally filed in the transferor bank's name.

---

---

Issues: Whether, on a scheme of amalgamation under the Banking Companies Act, the successor bank became an assessee for purposes of the income-tax law and was competent to prosecute appeals arising from pending assessment proceedings and refund claims of the transferor bank.

Analysis: The relevant provisions of the earlier and later Income-tax Acts treated an assessee as not only the person by whom tax is payable, but also a person in respect of whom assessment or refund proceedings had been taken. The succession provisions further contemplated that, where the predecessor could not be found, the successor could be assessed and could step into the predecessor's position for pending proceedings. The scheme of amalgamation transferred the transferor bank's assets, liabilities, rights, obligations and pending proceedings to the successor bank, and the statutory scheme operated notwithstanding anything contrary in other laws or instruments. The appeals related to refund claims arising from pending assessment proceedings that had originally been instituted in the transferor bank's name, and the successor bank was entitled in law to act on behalf of the transferor bank and continue those proceedings.

Conclusion: The successor bank was an assessee within the meaning of the relevant provisions and was competent to file and continue the appeals for securing the refunds due to the transferor bank.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory amalgamation transfers the predecessor's rights, liabilities and pending tax proceedings to the successor, the successor may be treated as the assessee for the purpose of continuing those proceedings and pursuing refund-related appeals.

---