Jurisdictional defect in reassessment notice: notice by an officer lacking authority cannot be cured by section 292BB.

Reassessment under section 147 was invalid where the Assessing Officer who issued the notice and completed the assessment lacked jurisdiction over the assessee. The Tribunal accepted that jurisdiction lay with a different Assessing Officer, noted that the jurisdictional objection had been raised, and found the jurisdictional fact unrebutted. It held that a notice issued by an without vested jurisdiction is a substantive defect affecting the power to reopen, not a mere technical irregularity, and that section 292BB could not cure notice issued by an incompetent authority. The reassessment was therefore held bad in law and the assessment order was quashed; remaining grounds were treated as academic.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment framed under section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 was valid when the Assessing Officer who issued the notice and completed the assessment lacked jurisdiction over the assessee.

Analysis: The assessee established that the jurisdiction to assess it lay with a different Assessing Officer, and that objection had been raised before the lower authorities. The Tribunal found that the jurisdictional fact was not rebutted. It held that issuance of notice by an officer not vested with jurisdiction is not a mere technical irregularity but a jurisdictional defect affecting the very authority to reopen the assessment. The Tribunal also held that section 292BB of the Income-tax Act, 1961 could not cure a defect in the issuance of notice by an incompetent authority.

Conclusion: The reassessment was held to be bad in law and the assessment order was quashed. The appeal was allowed, and the remaining grounds were not examined as they had become academic.

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