Assessment in the name of a non-existent amalgamating company is a jurisdictional defect and cannot be cured by participation.

Amalgamation of the transferor company with the transferee company, once effective and intimated to the Assessing Officer, required assessment proceedings to continue only in the name of the surviving entity. Notice under section 143(2) and the assessment order issued in the name of a non-existent amalgamating company were treated as a jurisdictional defect. Participation in the proceedings did not cure the defect, and section 292B of the Income-tax Act, 1961 did not save the irregularity. The assessment order was therefore invalid and liable to be quashed, with the assessee succeeding and the Revenue's appeal failing.

---

---

Issues: Whether the assessment and jurisdictional notice issued in the name of an amalgamating company, after it had ceased to exist on amalgamation and after the tax authority had been informed of the merger, were valid in law.

Analysis: The amalgamation of the transferor company with the transferee company had taken effect from the appointed date and intimation of the merger had been placed before the Assessing Officer. Once the amalgamating company ceased to exist, proceedings had to be continued in the name of the surviving entity. Issuance of notice under section 143(2) and passing of the assessment order in the name of a non-existent entity constituted a jurisdictional defect. Participation in the proceedings could not cure the defect, and the irregularity was not saved by section 292B of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Conclusion: The assessment order was invalid and liable to be quashed; the assessee succeeded and the Revenue's appeal failed.

---