Notice Issuance in Name of Deceased invalidates reopening; absence of notice to legal heir defeats subsequent assessment proceedings.

Reopening under the income-tax code must be premised on a valid foundational notice; a notice issued in the name of a person who had died before issuance is a nullity and cannot sustain proceedings. Where statutory rules permit liability to attach to legal heirs only if proceedings were initiated during the deceased's lifetime or a fresh notice is served on the heir, the absence of service on the legal heir defeats jurisdiction to proceed. Applying that principle, the reopening notice addressed to the deceased was invalid and consequent assessment proceedings could not be sustained against the legal heir.

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Issues: Whether a notice under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 issued in the name of a deceased assessee is valid and whether consequent proceedings under Sections 147/148 can be sustained where the assessee had died prior to issuance of the notice and no fresh notice was issued to the legal heir.

Analysis: The Tribunal examined the chronology showing the original assessee died on 19.11.2017 while the notice under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was dated 26.03.2019. The Tribunal considered the statutory scheme including Section 148 and Section 147 regarding reopening and the specific provision Section 159(2)(b) permitting proceedings against legal heirs only where proceedings were initiated during the assessee's lifetime or a fresh notice is issued to the legal heir. The Tribunal also relied on jurisdictional High Court authorities and other precedents holding that a reopening notice issued in the name of a dead person is unenforceable and that proceedings against legal heirs require proper notice to them. The Tribunal found the foundational notice was addressed to a person not in existence at the time of issuance and that no fresh notice was served on the legal heir as required by law.

Conclusion: The notice issued under Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in the name of the deceased assessee is null and void; consequential proceedings under Sections 147/148 are unsustainable in the absence of a valid notice served on the legal heir. The impugned order of the Commissioner (Appeals) allowing the first appeal is upheld and the Revenue's appeal is dismissed.

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