Reassessment on later legal research upheld where the correct legal position on coparcenary share was newly discovered.

Subsequent legal research can constitute "information" for reopening where the assessing authority later learns the correct legal position from an external source and believes property escaped assessment. The reassessment power under section 59(b) of the Estate Duty Act was treated as analogous to income-tax reopening provisions, and the court held that later acquisition of the true legal principle is sufficient when that issue was not considered in the original assessment. Because the case involved more than a mere change of opinion, the reassessment was upheld as valid and within jurisdiction.

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Issues: Whether the subsequent discovery, through research into law, of the correct legal position as to the deceased's share in coparcenary property constituted "information in possession" so as to justify reassessment under section 59(b) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953.

Analysis: The reassessment power under section 59(b) is analogous to the reopening provisions under the income-tax law, and the term "information" extends to knowledge of the true legal position, including knowledge obtained from external sources such as later legal research or judicial decisions. Where the original assessment proceeded without considering or realising the correct legal principle, and the assessing authority later acquires that legal knowledge and forms the belief that property has escaped assessment, the statutory condition is satisfied. The case was distinguished from one of mere change of opinion, because the particular legal aspect had not been canvassed or decided in the original assessment.

Conclusion: The subsequent legal research constituted information within section 59(b), and the reassessment was valid and within jurisdiction.

Final Conclusion: The reference was answered against the assessee, holding that reopening of the assessment was permissible and the department's reassessment action was sustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Information for reopening includes the later acquisition of the correct legal position from an external source, including subsequent research into law or later judicial exposition, where that position was not known or applied at the original assessment.

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