Pre-reassessment enquiry permits limited information gathering, but no coercive production of evidence before a valid notice issues.

Before issuing reassessment notice, an Income-tax Officer may conduct a reasonable preliminary enquiry and seek information from available sources, including the assessee, to form the required belief that income has escaped assessment. The statute, however, does not authorise compulsion at that pre-notice stage: the assessee is under no legal duty to produce evidence or comply with a requisition until a valid notice under section 148 is issued. The pre-reopening enquiry is therefore permissible for forming a reasonable basis, but it remains non-coercive.

---

---

Issues: Whether the Income-tax Officer could, before issuing notice under section 148, make a preliminary enquiry and call upon the assessee to furnish particulars or show cause why the assessment should be reopened under section 147(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

Analysis: The assessment had already been completed under the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, and the controversy concerned the power of the Income-tax Officer at the pre-reopening stage under the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Court held that while reopening requires the officer to act on relevant material and reasonably form the belief that income has escaped assessment, the statute does not prohibit a preliminary investigation. Such enquiry may be made from available sources, including the assessee, if needed for the officer to act reasonably. At the same time, the assessee is not legally bound to comply with a requisition for evidence before a notice under section 148 is issued, and the officer cannot compel production at that stage.

Conclusion: The Income-tax Officer was entitled to issue the impugned notice and make a pre-reopening enquiry, but the assessee was under no legal compulsion to comply. The challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Before issuing notice for reassessment, the Income-tax Officer may make a reasonable preliminary enquiry and seek information from the assessee, but cannot compel production of evidence or enforce compliance until a valid notice under section 148 is issued.

---