Unsigned section 148 notice cannot confer reassessment jurisdiction; section 292B does not cure the defect.

An unsigned notice under section 148 was held to be invalid because a valid notice is a jurisdictional precondition for reassessment. The Tribunal found that the notice bore neither a manual nor a digital signature, and treated the defect as one going to the root of jurisdiction rather than a mere procedural irregularity. Section 292B was held inapplicable, since it cannot cure the absence of a signature on a notice required to validly assume reassessment jurisdiction. The reassessment was therefore invalid and without jurisdiction, and the assessee's challenge to reopening succeeded.

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Issues: Whether reassessment could be sustained when the notice issued under section 148 was unsigned and, consequently, whether the reassessment was without jurisdiction.

Analysis: The notice issued under section 148 was found to bear neither a manual nor a digital signature. The Tribunal treated a valid notice as a jurisdictional precondition for reassessment. It applied the settled principle that an unsigned notice is not a mere irregularity, but a defect going to the root of jurisdiction. The Tribunal also held that section 292B does not cure the absence of a signature on a notice that is required to validly assume jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The reassessment was invalid and without jurisdiction because the notice under section 148 was unsigned. The objection to reopening succeeded in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act must be signed, and absence of such signature renders the notice invalid and incapable of conferring jurisdiction for reassessment; section 292B does not cure that defect.

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