Rectification cannot substitute a different assessee; escaped-assessment proceedings are the proper route when a Hindu undivided family was not originally assessed.

Rectification power cannot be used to change the identity of the assessee by substituting a Hindu undivided family where the original assessment was made on an association of individuals holding property as tenants-in-common. The Act treats an individual, Hindu undivided family, association of individuals, firm and company as separate assessable units, and a mistake apparent from the record does not extend to replacing one taxable entity with another that was never assessed. If the authority believed the Hindu undivided family had escaped assessment, the proper remedy was escaped-assessment proceedings, not rectification. The rectification order substituting the Hindu undivided family was therefore without jurisdiction.

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Issues: Whether, after an assessment had been made on an association of individuals as tenants-in-common, the assessing authority could invoke the rectification power to substitute a Hindu undivided family as the assessee.

Analysis: The Act treats the individual, Hindu undivided family, association of individuals, firm and company as separate units of assessment. The original and revised assessment orders showed that the petitioner and his brothers had been assessed as an association of individuals holding property as tenants-in-common, and not as a Hindu undivided family. A power of rectification aimed at correcting a mistake apparent from the record cannot be used to change the very identity or status of the assessee and substitute a different assessable entity which was never assessed in the first place. If the authority considered that the Hindu undivided family ought to have been assessed but had escaped assessment, the proper course was proceedings for escaped income and not rectification.

Conclusion: The substitution of the Hindu undivided family in the rectification order was without jurisdiction and the impugned order was liable to be quashed.

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