Reassessment cannot reopen income already concluded in block assessment and appeal on the same material.

A reassessment notice under section 148 was treated as invalid where it sought to reopen income already assessed in block assessment proceedings under Chapter XIV-B and deleted on merits in appeal. The disputed gold ornaments had already been examined in the block assessment, and the recorded reasons for reopening substantially repeated the same material. Reopening on that basis would bypass the special block-assessment scheme and amount to impermissible review of a concluded issue. The notice was therefore without jurisdiction and could not stand.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment notice issued under section 148 could validly reopen an item of income that had already been assessed in block assessment proceedings under Chapter XIV-B and deleted in appeal on merits.

Analysis: The disputed gold ornaments had been included by the Assessing Officer in the block assessment under section 158BC of the Income-tax Act, 1961 as undisclosed income. The addition was deleted by the Commissioner (Appeals) on merits and that deletion was affirmed by the Tribunal. The reasons recorded for reopening substantially repeated the very material already examined in the block assessment. Once the same item had been subjected to search assessment and had been conclusively decided in appellate proceedings, it could not again be treated as income escaping assessment for the purpose of section 147. Permitting such reopening would amount to the Assessing Officer sitting in appeal over the appellate order and would be inconsistent with the special scheme governing block assessments.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice was without jurisdiction and could not stand.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the reopening succeeded because the very subject matter of the proposed reassessment had already been conclusively dealt with in block assessment proceedings and in appeal on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: An item of income already assessed in block assessment proceedings and finally decided in appeal cannot be reopened under section 147 on the same material, as this would bypass the special scheme of block assessment and amount to impermissible review of a concluded issue.

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