Mandatory section 143(2) notice after a return under section 148 is jurisdictional; omission invalidates reassessment.

Where a return is filed in response to a reopening notice under section 148, issuance of notice under section 143(2) remains mandatory before completion of reassessment, even if the return is belated. The Tribunal treated non-issuance of that notice as a jurisdictional defect that invalidates the reassessment. It also noted that section 292BB does not cure the complete omission to issue the mandatory notice, as that provision addresses only defects in service and not absence of issuance. The reassessment was therefore held invalid for want of section 143(2) notice.

---

---

Issues: Whether reassessment was valid when the assessee filed a return in response to notice under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, but no notice under section 143(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was issued before completion of assessment.

Analysis: The assessee filed the return pursuant to the reopening notice, and the return was considered by the Assessing Officer while framing the reassessment. The governing legal position applied by the Tribunal is that notice under section 143(2) is mandatory once a return is filed in response to notice under section 148, even if the return is filed belatedly. Failure to issue that notice creates a jurisdictional defect and renders the reassessment invalid. Section 292BB does not cure the absence of issuance of the mandatory notice, and it operates only in relation to service-related objections, not the complete omission to issue notice.

Conclusion: The reassessment proceedings were invalid for non-issuance of notice under section 143(2), and the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

---