Jurisdictional invalidity in tax assessment prevents revival through quashed notices; fresh proceedings need strict statutory notice and limitation compliance.

Where the assessing officer lacked jurisdiction because the assessee's gross agricultural income exceeded the prescribed limit, the notice and assessment founded on that authority were void. The Board of Revision could not validate the defective proceedings by directing a fresh assessment on the basis of quashed notices under sections 15(3) and 25. A new assessment or reassessment had to be initiated only in strict compliance with the Act's mandatory notice and limitation requirements, and an earlier invalid return or notice could not be used to revive time-barred proceedings. The High Court's answer was therefore correct.

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Issues: Whether the Board of Revision could direct a fresh assessment after setting aside the assessment made without jurisdiction, and whether the earlier notices under sections 15(3) and 25 could sustain a new assessment despite expiry of the statutory time limits.

Analysis: The statutory scheme made the Collector the assessing authority with unlimited jurisdiction in appropriate cases, while the Assistant Collector in charge of a sub-division could act only where the gross agricultural income did not exceed the prescribed limit. Once the Sub-Divisional Officer found that the assessee's gross income exceeded that limit, he lacked jurisdiction to continue the assessment or to sustain the notice issued under section 15(3). The Board's order setting aside the assessment necessarily displaced the unauthorised notice and the proceedings founded on it. A notice under section 15(1) could not be used years later to revive a fresh assessment on a return not made to the Collector, and a notice under section 25 for reassessment could not survive after the earlier reassessment proceedings were quashed and the statutory foundation for a fresh notice was absent. The court confined itself to the reference and held that a fresh proceeding had to comply with the Act's mandatory notice and limitation requirements.

Conclusion: The Board had no authority to direct a fresh assessment on the basis of the earlier, invalid proceedings, and the answer given by the High Court was correct.

Final Conclusion: The statutory time limits and jurisdictional conditions for assessment and reassessment could not be bypassed by resorting to quashed notices or by transferring invalid proceedings into a fresh assessment.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a taxing authority acts without jurisdiction, the notice and assessment founded on it are void, and a fresh assessment can be initiated only by strict compliance with the statute's notice and limitation provisions.

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