Mandatory notice under section 143(2) is jurisdictional; reassessment and related revision cannot stand without it.

A reassessment framed without issuing the mandatory notice under section 143(2) is jurisdictionally defective, because the notice requirement is mandatory and its omission renders the reassessment void ab initio. On that basis, a revisional order under section 263 cannot survive where it is founded on a non est reassessment, since revisional jurisdiction presupposes a valid assessment order. The result stated in the text is that both the reassessment and the section 263 order were annulled, and the assessee succeeded on the jurisdictional challenge.

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Issues: (i) whether the reassessment was invalid for want of notice under section 143(2); (ii) whether the revisional order under section 263 could survive when it was based on an invalid reassessment.

Issue (i): whether the reassessment was invalid for want of notice under section 143(2)

Analysis: The return was filed in response to notice under section 148, but no notice under section 143(2) was issued before framing the reassessment. The requirement of notice under section 143(2) is mandatory and goes to the jurisdiction of the Assessing Officer. Its omission is not a curable irregularity and renders the reassessment void ab initio.

Conclusion: The reassessment was invalid and void ab initio for want of notice under section 143(2).

Issue (ii): whether the revisional order under section 263 could survive when it was based on an invalid reassessment

Analysis: The revisional jurisdiction under section 263 presupposes the existence of a valid assessment order. Since the reassessment itself was non est, the revisional order seeking to examine and set aside that order could not be sustained in law.

Conclusion: The order under section 263 was not sustainable and was quashed.

Final Conclusion: The assessee succeeded on the jurisdictional challenge, and both the reassessment and the revisional order were annulled.

Ratio Decidendi: A reassessment completed without the mandatory notice under section 143(2) is void ab initio, and a revisional order under section 263 cannot stand when it seeks to revise such a non est assessment.

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