Reassessment reopening fails when objections are not first decided by speaking order before reassessment proceeds.

Reassessment is invalid where the Assessing Officer completes proceedings without first disposing of the assessee's objections to reopening by a speaking order. The procedure in GKN Driveshafts, together with natural justice, requires those objections to be adjudicated before further reassessment steps continue. Here, the reopening was also challenged as lacking new tangible material and as a change of opinion, but the decisive defect was the failure to decide the objections before finalising reassessment. On that basis, the assumption of jurisdiction for reassessment was held to be without authority, and the reassessment notice and order were set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether reassessment was valid when the Assessing Officer proceeded without first disposing of the assessee's objections to reopening.

Analysis: The reopening was challenged as being based on no new tangible material and as a mere change of opinion. The decisive defect, however, was procedural: after furnishing the reasons for reopening, the assessee filed objections, but the Assessing Officer did not dispose of those objections by a speaking order before completing the reassessment. The procedure laid down in GKN Driveshafts and the principles of natural justice required prior disposal of the objections before further reassessment steps could validly continue. In these circumstances, the assumption of jurisdiction for reassessment was held to be without authority.

Conclusion: The reassessment notice and the reassessment order were invalid and were set aside in favour of the assessee.

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