Retrospective reassessment amendment made prior Commissioner approval mandatory, rendering notices issued without that condition invalid.

Retrospective substitution of section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 made prior approval of the Commissioner a mandatory condition before issue of a reassessment notice. Notices issued after the retrospective commencement date had to comply with the amended provision, including recorded reasons and the Commissioner's satisfaction that the case was fit for notice. The general saving rule in section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 did not preserve the earlier notices because the amending Act showed a contrary legislative intention. Reassessment notices issued without the required prior approval were therefore invalid.

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Issues: Whether reassessment notices issued under section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 were valid when the amended provision, operating retrospectively, required the Income-tax Officer to obtain the Commissioner's prior approval before issuing such notices.

Analysis: The pre-amendment section 34 did not require prior approval of the Commissioner. The amending Act substituted a new section 34 and, by making sections 3 to 12 retrospective from 30 March 1948, introduced a proviso that the Income-tax Officer shall not issue a notice unless he has recorded reasons and the Commissioner is satisfied that it is a fit case for issue of such notice. Since the notices in question were issued after the retrospective commencement date, the amended provision governed them. The retrospective substitution disclosed a different legislative intention, so the saving principle in section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 did not preserve the old notices. The notices were therefore issued without compliance with the mandatory condition of prior approval.

Conclusion: The reassessment notices were invalid and the assessee succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a retrospective amendment substitutes a new reassessment provision and imposes a mandatory precondition of prior approval, notices issued after the retrospective commencement date without fulfilling that condition are void, and the general saving provision does not preserve them where the amending Act evinces a contrary intention.

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