Dependence of registration orders on subsisting assessments means a reference question becomes non-referable after annulment.

Registration orders under Section 185 of the Income-tax Act were treated as dependent on the existence of valid assessment orders. Once the Tribunal annulled the assessment orders as nullities, the foundation for the registration orders disappeared and they did not survive independently. As a result, the proposed question under Section 256(1) lost its live character and ceased to be a referable question of law. The reference applications were therefore not maintainable and were dismissed.

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Issues: Whether a question arising from orders under Section 185 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, remained referable under Section 256(1) after the corresponding assessment orders had been annulled and whether the applications seeking reference were therefore maintainable.

Analysis: The registration orders under Section 185 were held to be dependent on the subsisting assessments. Once the Tribunal had annulled the assessments as nullities, the foundation of the registration orders disappeared and those orders did not survive independently. In that situation, the proposed question lost its live character and ceased to be a referable question of law.

Conclusion: The question was not referable, and the reference applications were dismissed.

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