Validity of reopening of assessment questioned on whether notice under section 143(2) was issued, appeal allowed after portal evidence.

Validity of reopening examined the requirement of issuance of notice under section 143(2) as a jurisdictional prerequisite; where assessment records and ITBA portal access were available to the appellate authority, failure to factually negate the assessees contention that no notice was issued rendered reopening invalid. The distinction between non-issuance and mere irregularity of service was emphasised, and reliance on precedent concerning irregular service was held inapplicable where issuance itself remained ambiguous; e-portal screenshots supporting non-issuance were accepted and the assessees appeal allowed.

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Issues: (i) Whether non-issuance of notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (or failure to establish issuance on record) vitiates reassessment proceedings initiated under section 147 and completed under section 147 read with section 143(3) for the assessment year 2012-13.

Analysis: The assessment was reopened under section 147 and a notice under section 148 appears on the portal for 29.03.2019, but contemporaneous record does not establish issuance or service of notice under section 143(2) or section 142(1). The first appellate authority upheld the reassessment treating the defect as a technical irregularity and placed the onus on the assessee to prove non-issuance, relying on authorities addressing cases of participation or irregular service. The tribunal examined the assessment order and appellate record and found the existence of material ambiguity as to whether notices under section 143(2)/142(1) were ever issued. The appellate reasoning that treated the matter as an irregularity rather than non-issuance was not supported by clear portal or record entries affirmatively showing issuance of the required jurisdictional notice, and the factual dispute as to issuance remained unresolved against the assessee on the record.

Conclusion: The defect in issuance of a jurisdictional notice under section 143(2) is a substantive jurisdictional infirmity that vitiates the reassessment where the record does not satisfactorily establish that such notice was issued; conclusion reached in favour of the assessee and the impugned assessment is quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the record does not satisfactorily demonstrate issuance of the statutory notice required to assume jurisdiction under section 143(2), reassessment completed under section 147 read with section 143(3) is vitiated and liable to be quashed.

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