Reassessment invalid for want of mandatory section 143(2) notice after return was treated as filed in reopening proceedings.

In reassessment proceedings, once the original return is treated as the return in response to notice under section 148 and the Assessing Officer proceeds to act on that return, issuance of notice under section 143(2) is mandatory before completing the assessment. Here, the reassessment was completed after notices under section 142(1), but no section 143(2) notice was shown to have been issued. The absence of that notice was treated as a fatal jurisdictional defect, rendering the reassessment bad in law and void ab initio. The Tribunal therefore quashed the impugned reassessment and allowed the assessee's appeal on the additional ground.

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Issues: Whether reassessment framed without issuance of notice under section 143(2), where the assessee's original return was treated as the return in response to notice under section 148, was valid in law.

Analysis: The assessment order and the record showed that the Assessing Officer proceeded on the returned income and made additions on that basis, but no notice under section 143(2) was shown to have been issued. The assessee had requested that the original return be treated as the return in response to the reopening notice, and the reassessment was completed after notices under section 142(1). Following the settled principle that once a return is acted upon in reassessment proceedings, notice under section 143(2) is mandatory before completion of the assessment, the absence of such notice was treated as a fatal defect. The Tribunal applied the same reasoning as in earlier coordinate bench and jurisdictional High Court rulings relied upon in the order.

Conclusion: The reassessment was held to be bad in law and void ab initio for want of notice under section 143(2), and the assessee succeeded on the additional ground.

Final Conclusion: The impugned reassessment was quashed and the appeal was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: In reassessment proceedings, once a return is filed or otherwise treated as filed in response to notice under section 148 and is acted upon by the Assessing Officer, issuance of notice under section 143(2) is mandatory before framing the assessment.

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