Legal representative status for deceased assessee must be established before an income-tax appeal can proceed in that capacity.

A person seeking to prosecute an income-tax appeal as the legal representative of a deceased assessee must first establish the statutory basis for legal representation and substitution; without that foundation, the appeal is not maintainable in that capacity. On the material placed, the claimant failed to show that the requirements governing representation of the deceased's estate and proceedings against her as legal representative were satisfied, so the request to continue the appeal was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the appeal could be prosecuted by the deceased assessee's alleged legal representative without the statutory basis for substitution or proceedings against her being established.

Analysis: The appeal arose from reassessment proceedings under the Income-tax Act, 1961. The appellant claimed to be the legal representative of the deceased assessee and sought to continue the appeal in that capacity. The statutory position governing representation of a deceased person's estate was considered, including the requirement that the claimant must satisfy the definition of a legal representative and the conditions for being proceeded against in that capacity. On the material placed, those statutory requirements were not shown to have been met.

Conclusion: The claim to prosecute the appeal as legal representative was rejected, and the appeal could not be maintained in that capacity.

Final Conclusion: The challenge failed on the preliminary issue of representation, leaving no basis for the appeal to proceed in the present form.

Ratio Decidendi: A person claiming to prosecute an income-tax appeal as the legal representative of a deceased assessee must first satisfy the statutory requirements governing legal representation and substitution; absent that foundation, the appeal is not maintainable in that capacity.

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