Assessment in the name of a deceased assessee is a nullity, barring revision under section 263.

An assessment framed in the name of a deceased assessee, without bringing the legal heirs on record, is invalid in law and treated as a nullity. The text notes that there was no material showing substitution of the heirs, and that no statutory duty required them to intimate the department about the death. Because the foundational assessment itself was jurisdictionally defective, section 263 could not be used to revise, cure, or sustain it. The defect was held to affect all consequential proceedings, and the revision was stated to be invalid and liable to be set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether an order under section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could validly revise an assessment framed in the name of a deceased assessee.

Analysis: The assessment was framed after the assessee had already expired, and there was no material showing that the legal heirs had been brought on record. In the absence of a statutory obligation on the legal heirs to intimate the Department about the death, an assessment made in the name of a deceased person is invalid in law. Once the foundational assessment order itself is a nullity, the revisional jurisdiction under section 263 cannot be exercised to cure or sustain it. The defect goes to jurisdiction and affects the validity of all consequential proceedings.

Conclusion: The revision under section 263 was invalid and was liable to be set aside; the finding is in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment order passed in the name of a deceased person, without bringing the legal heirs on record, is a nullity and cannot be revised under section 263 of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

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