Mandatory Section 143(2) notice in reassessment proceedings is jurisdictional; absence of notice voids the assessment.

When a return filed in response to notice under Section 148 is considered in reassessment proceedings, prior issuance of notice under Section 143(2) is a jurisdictional requirement before completing an assessment under Section 143(3) read with Section 147. Failure to issue that notice is not a curable irregularity, because Section 292BB applies only to defects in service and cannot validate a notice that was never issued. The reassessment was therefore invalid for want of jurisdiction, and the assessment order was quashed as void ab initio.

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Issues: Whether an assessment framed under Section 143(3) read with Section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is valid when no notice under Section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was issued after the return filed in response to notice under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was taken into account.

Analysis: The return filed in response to the reopening notice was considered by the Assessing Officer and formed the basis of the reassessment. In such a situation, issuance of notice under Section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is a jurisdictional requirement before completing assessment under Section 143(3) read with Section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The absence of such notice is not a curable irregularity. Section 292BB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 cannot cure the failure to issue notice, as it operates only in relation to service defects and not where the statutory notice itself was never issued.

Conclusion: The reassessment was invalid for want of notice under Section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the assessment order was rightly quashed as void ab initio.

Ratio Decidendi: When a return filed in response to notice under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is acted upon in reassessment proceedings, prior issue of notice under Section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 is mandatory and its absence vitiates the reassessment for want of jurisdiction.

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