Merger of assessment in appellate orders barred rectification by the Income-tax Officer; only the Tribunal could correct its own order.

Once an assessment has been carried in appeal and the disputed computation forms part of the appellate subject-matter, the original order merges in the appellate orders and loses independent operative force. In that situation, section 35(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 confines rectification to the Tribunal's own order where the matter has reached it. The Income-tax Officer therefore had no jurisdiction to reopen or rectify the earlier 1944-45 assessment by substituting a later apportionment of profit through mandamus, and the request for such a direction was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the Income-tax Officer could be compelled under section 35 to rectify the 1944-45 assessment by substituting the later apportionment of profit, notwithstanding that the original assessment had merged in the appellate orders.

Analysis: The assessment for 1944-45 had been carried in appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the Tribunal. The dispute as to the total receipts on which profit was to be computed and the rate to be applied was part of the subject-matter of those appeals. On that footing, the original assessment order ceased to retain independent operative force and merged in the appellate process. Under section 35(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, where the matter has travelled to the Tribunal, rectification lies only with the Tribunal in relation to its order. The Income-tax Officer therefore had no jurisdiction to reopen his own earlier assessment order by mandamus.

Conclusion: The request to direct the Income-tax Officer to rectify the assessment was rejected and the petition was dismissed.

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