Change of opinion bars reassessment when reopening rests on the same property valuation material already on record.

Reopening of assessment under section 148 was invalid where it was based only on an alleged property-value difference already reflected in the record. The higher guideline rate cited applied to commercial property, while the transaction related to residential property and the Sub-Registrar's certificate confirmed registration at the declared value. Since the material available did not disclose fresh tangible reasons and the authority was effectively revisiting a concluded assessment, the action amounted to a mere change of opinion. The reassessment objection was wrongly overruled, and the reassessment proceedings were set aside.

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Issues: Whether reopening of the assessment under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was valid when it was founded on the alleged difference in property value and whether the reassessment objection was liable to be overruled as a mere change of opinion.

Analysis: The reassessment was based on the premise that the property ought to have been valued at the higher guideline rate of Rs. 16,000 per sq. ft., whereas the registered value was Rs. 12,000 per sq. ft. The records showed that the higher rate referred to commercial property and not the residential property involved, and the Sub-Registrar's certificate confirmed registration at Rs. 12,000 per sq. ft. Under section 47A of the Indian Stamps Act, 1899, the jurisdictional registering authority is the competent authority to determine undervaluation. On the materials available, the basis for reopening was not a fresh tangible reason but an attempt to revisit an assessment already completed, which amounted to a change of opinion. The power under section 148 cannot be used to review a concluded assessment.

Conclusion: The reopening was invalid as it was founded on a change of opinion, and the impugned order overruling the objection could not stand.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the reassessment proceedings were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Reassessment under section 148 cannot be sustained when it is based on a mere change of opinion on material already available during the original assessment.

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