Natural justice in tax assessment requires a fresh notice when the final yield exceeds the proposed figure.

An assessment under section 19(4) of the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act was quashed for breach of natural justice where the final yield adopted was far higher than the figure proposed in the proposition notice. The assessee had been invited to object only to the original proposed yield, and no rectified notice was issued before the higher yield was used in assessment. A mere oral intimation at the hearing that a higher yield might be adopted was held insufficient to satisfy fair procedure, so the final assessment could not stand.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order under section 19(4) of the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1957 was vitiated for breach of natural justice because the yield adopted in the final assessment exceeded the figure proposed in the proposition notice without a corresponding rectification of that notice.

Analysis: The petitioner was first put on notice of a proposed assessment based on groundnut yield at five quintals per acre. In the final assessment, the assessing authority adopted 13.6 quintals per acre and raised the assessed income on that basis. The only hearing afforded to the petitioner related to objections against the figure stated in the proposition notice. No rectified notice was issued, and a mere oral intimation at the hearing that a higher yield might be adopted was held insufficient to meet the requirements of fair procedure.

Conclusion: The assessment made under section 19(4) was held to be violative of natural justice and was quashed. The writ petition was allowed.

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