Legal representative status is essential for reassessment against a deceased assessee's successor; mere legal heirship is insufficient.

Reassessment proceedings against a successor of a deceased assessee are sustainable only where the person is shown to be a legal representative of the estate, not merely a legal heir, and liability remains confined to the extent of the estate inherited or managed under section 159. As no finding established that the estate had devolved on or been managed by the appellant, the jurisdictional objection succeeded and the proceedings, with consequential additions, were held unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment proceedings and additions could be sustained against the appellant when he was treated only as a legal heir and not shown to be the legal representative of the deceased assessee's estate.

Analysis: The jurisdictional objection turned on the distinction between a mere legal heir and a legal representative. The statutory definition of legal representative under the Code of Civil Procedure and the corresponding meaning under the Income-tax Act were applied, along with the scheme of section 159(4), under which liability of a legal representative is confined to the value of the deceased assessee's estate. As no finding was recorded that the estate had devolved upon the appellant or that he was managing it, the impugned proceedings were held to be unsustainable. The strict construction principle was applied to resolve the preliminary issue against the Revenue.

Conclusion: The reassessment action and consequential proceedings against the appellant were invalid, and the appeals were allowed on this preliminary ground.

Ratio Decidendi: Proceedings under the Income-tax Act against a deceased person's successor are sustainable only when the person is shown to be a legal representative of the estate, with liability limited to the extent of the estate inherited or managed.

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