Mandatory disposal of reopening objections before reassessment is completed; failure to do so vitiates the proceedings.

Reassessment is vitiated where the Assessing Officer proceeds without first disposing of the assessee's objections to the recorded reasons by a speaking order. The governing procedure requires objections to reopening to be considered and decided before any reassessment is completed. Here, the objections filed after disclosure of the reasons were not addressed in that manner, so the mandatory precondition for continuation of the reassessment was not met. The notice under section 148 and the assessment framed under section 143(3) read with section 147 were therefore liable to be set aside.

---

---

Issues: Validity of reassessment proceedings when the Assessing Officer failed to dispose of the assessee's objections to the recorded reasons before completing the reassessment.

Analysis: The assessee had filed objections after the reasons for reopening were furnished, but the objections raised on the later communication were not dealt with by a speaking order before the reassessment was completed. The applicable legal position requires the Assessing Officer to first dispose of objections to the reasons for reopening by a reasoned order and only thereafter proceed further. Non-compliance with this mandatory procedure vitiates the reassessment.

Conclusion: The reassessment proceedings were invalid and the notice issued under section 148 and the assessment made under section 143(3) read with section 147 were liable to be set aside.

---