Section 154 cannot be used to apply section 167B where indeterminate shares are a debatable issue, not an apparent mistake.

Rectification under section 154 could not be used to apply section 167B and charge tax at the maximum marginal rate where the members' shares in the association's income were said to be indeterminate. Because section 167B required examination of whether the shares were indeterminate or unknown, and that issue had not been examined in the original assessment, the applicability of section 167B was treated as debatable rather than a mistake apparent from the record. The rectification was therefore held unsustainable, and the assessee succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the Assessing Officer could invoke section 154 to rectify the assessment by applying section 167B and charging tax at the maximum marginal rate on the footing that the members' shares were indeterminate.

Analysis: The rectification was based on applying the special rate under section 167B in consequence of the assessment under section 143(3). Application of section 167B required examination of whether the individual shares in the income of the association were indeterminate or unknown, a matter not examined in the original assessment. The question whether section 167B applied, and whether the assessee could be brought to tax at the maximum marginal rate through rectification, was treated as a debatable issue and therefore not a mistake apparent from the record for the purposes of section 154.

Conclusion: The rectification under section 154 applying section 167B was held unsustainable, and the assessee succeeded.

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