Reassessment notice to a deceased assessee is void ab initio; section 159, section 292B and section 292BB cannot cure invalid initiation.

A reassessment notice issued under section 148 in the name of a deceased assessee is void ab initio when it is served after death, because proceedings then commence against a non-existent person and lack valid jurisdictional initiation. Section 159 applies only where proceedings were already initiated or pending during the assessee's lifetime and can continue against legal representatives; it does not save a notice first issued after death. Section 292B cannot cure this foundational defect, and section 292BB cannot validate proceedings that never validly commenced. The notice and consequential reassessment were held invalid and quashed, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether reassessment notice issued under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 in the name of a deceased assessee, after the assessee's death, was valid and whether the consequent reassessment could be sustained by invoking section 159, section 292B or section 292BB of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The death of the assessee prior to issuance of the notice was undisputed. The legal position applied was that section 159 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 operates where proceedings are initiated or pending against a person during his lifetime and thereafter continue against the legal representative. Where notice itself is issued only after death, proceedings commence against a non-existent person and are unenforceable in law. On the same facts, section 292B cannot cure a foundational defect of jurisdiction in issuing notice to a dead person, and section 292BB does not validate a proceeding that never validly commenced against the deceased assessee.

Conclusion: The notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 and all consequent reassessment proceedings were invalid and liable to be quashed. The issue was decided against the Revenue and in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The reassessment framed pursuant to notice issued in the name of the deceased assessee could not be sustained, and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment notice issued after the assessee's death to a dead person is void ab initio; section 159 applies only where proceedings were already initiated or pending during the assessee's lifetime, and section 292B or section 292BB cannot cure the lack of valid jurisdictional initiation.

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