Retrospective rectification limits bar reopening finally completed assessments; a later note does not make a completed assessment provisional.

Amended rectification under section 35(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 had only limited operation from 1 April 1952 and could not be used to reopen assessments finally completed before that date. The deeming fiction treating a firm's record as part of the partner's assessment record did not extend retrospectively to closed assessments, and a new reliance on section 35(1) was unavailable because the matter had proceeded on section 35(5) throughout. A mere note that rectification might follow when the firms' assessments were completed did not make the completed assessments provisional; they remained final, so rectification on that basis was impermissible.

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Issues: (i) Whether section 35(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 could be applied to reopen assessments that had been finally completed before 1 April 1952. (ii) Whether the assessments in question were provisional so as to permit rectification on the basis of the later completion of the firms' assessments.

Issue (i): Whether section 35(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1922 could be applied to reopen assessments that had been finally completed before 1 April 1952.

Analysis: The amended provision had limited retrospectivity from 1 April 1952. It was intended to fill a lacuna by deeming a mistake discoverable from the record of a firm to be apparent in the partner's assessment record, but it was not given wider retrospective operation. The assessment of the assessees had been finally completed before the effective date, and the later completion of the firms' assessments could not enlarge the reach of the amendment. A new plea based on section 35(1) was also not available, because the case had proceeded throughout on section 35(5).

Conclusion: Section 35(5) could not be invoked against the assessees, and the challenge to the High Court's view failed on this issue.

Issue (ii): Whether the assessments in question were provisional so as to permit rectification on the basis of the later completion of the firms' assessments.

Analysis: The mere note in the assessment order that action under section 35 would be taken when the firms' assessments were completed did not convert the completed assessments into provisional assessments. They were not assessments under section 23B, and remained final assessments. A final assessment could be rectified only within the limits of the law then in force, which did not include the fiction created by section 35(5) for assessments already closed before 1 April 1952.

Conclusion: The assessments were final and not provisional, so rectification on that basis was unavailable.

Final Conclusion: The amended rectification provision could not be applied to these finally completed assessments, and the assessees were entitled to relief from the revised assessments.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory amendment that creates a deeming fiction for rectification of assessment records cannot be applied retrospectively to finally completed assessments beyond its limited effective date, and a completed assessment does not become provisional merely because the assessing officer contemplates later rectification.

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