Restoration of original assessment on default bars fresh reassessment after limitation and makes reopening without jurisdiction.

Where an appellate tribunal set aside an assessment for breach of natural justice but expressly provided that the original assessment would stand restored if the assessee failed to produce records, the restoration operated automatically on default. The assessee did not produce the records, so the earlier assessment revived and bound both parties for that assessment year. The assessing officer could not ignore the tribunal's binding direction and initiate a fresh reassessment on the same basis after limitation had expired. The reassessment was therefore held without jurisdiction and illegal, and was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment order was jurisdiction after the appellate tribunal had set aside the earlier assessment and directed that the original assessment would stand restored on failure to produce records.

Analysis: The appellate tribunal had set aside the earlier assessment for breach of natural justice and expressly provided that, if the assessee failed to produce the records within the time granted, the original assessment order would stand restored. The assessee did not produce the records. In that situation, the consequence of the tribunal's order operated by its own force and the earlier assessment revived. The assessing officer could not disregard that restoration and initiate a fresh reassessment on the same footing after the period of limitation had also expired. The final decision of the tribunal was binding on both sides for the assessment year in question.

Conclusion: The reassessment order was without jurisdiction and illegal; it was set aside in favour of the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: When an appellate tribunal expressly restores the original assessment on the assessee's default, the restored order binds the parties and the assessing authority cannot reopen the matter by issuing a fresh reassessment notice beyond limitation.

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