Presumption of service of reopening notice by registered post can sustain reassessment where the addressee appears to have avoided delivery.

Where a section 148 notice is dispatched by registered post to the assessee's correct address and postal endorsements indicate non-availability or avoidance, service may be presumed from the ordinary course of postal delivery and the surrounding record. On those facts, the Tribunal treated the reopening notice as duly served, rejected the contention that the reassessment was void for want of service, and found the contrary view of the CIT(A) unsustainable. The reassessment was therefore regarded as validly initiated and completed, with the matter remitted for decision on merits.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment proceedings were invalid for want of service of notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and whether due service could be presumed from the dispatch of notice by registered post and the surrounding postal endorsements.

Analysis: The notice under section 148 was issued at the address supplied by the assessee and returned with postal remarks indicating that the assessee was not at home. A subsequent notice under section 142(1) also remained undelivered. On these facts, the Tribunal applied the presumption of service flowing from dispatch to the correct address by registered post, together with the presumption arising from ordinary course of postal delivery. The Tribunal held that the factual matrix supported an inference that service of the reopening notice was avoided and that the reassessment could not be treated as void merely because affixture service was disputed. The contrary finding of the CIT(A) was therefore unsustainable.

Conclusion: Due service of notice under section 148 was presumed, the reassessment proceedings were held to be validly initiated and completed, and the matter was sent back to the CIT(A) for decision on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a notice under section 148 is sent by registered post to the correct address and the postal record indicates non-availability or avoidance by the addressee, service may be presumed and the reassessment is not void for want of service.

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