Reasons to believe must be furnished to the taxpayer and a personal hearing offered before a reopened assessment proceeds.

Assessment reopening notices must disclose the recorded reasons to believe and permit effective objections; failure to furnish those reasons and to afford a personal hearing vitiates orders rejecting objections and any consequent assessment. The Court found that only extracts had been provided and no adequate opportunity to address the full reasons was afforded, and ordered quashing of the objection-rejection and related assessment, with remand to the assessing officer to supply the full reasons, allow the assessee to file or rely on objections, grant a personal hearing with at least five working days' notice and a list of authorities to be relied upon, and decide objections within specified time before any fresh assessment.

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Issues: Whether the notice of reopening of assessment under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and the order rejecting the assessee's objections can be sustained when the reasons to believe were not furnished to the assessee.

Analysis: The Court examined the petitioner's contention that the reasons to believe, as recorded in the notice dated 4 February 2020 under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, were not made available to the petitioner despite specific requests and objections; the order rejecting the petitioner's objections was therefore challenged on the ground that the requisite reasons to believe were not supplied. The Court noted absence of a reply affidavit from respondents and found that only extracts of reasons had been provided earlier. The Court considered whether procedural fairness required provision of the full reasons to believe and an opportunity for personal hearing before any assessment order was passed, and whether failure to provide such reasons vitiated the order rejecting objections.

Conclusion: The order rejecting the petitioner's objections and any consequent assessment order are quashed and set aside for failure to furnish the reasons to believe. The matter is remanded to the jurisdictional assessing officer to provide the reasons to believe recorded in the Section 148 notice, allow the petitioner to file or rely on objections, afford a personal hearing with at least five working days' notice, provide a list of authorities/judgments the officer proposes to rely upon, decide the objections within the time specified, and thereafter pass any assessment order in accordance with the directions given by the Court.

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