Assessment after death: no fresh pre-assessment notice required when proceedings were already substantially complete

Where assessment proceedings against a deceased assessee had substantially concluded before death, the taxing authority may complete the formal assessment and serve the order and demand notice on the legal representatives without issuing a fresh pre-assessment notice to them. Section 24(3) of the Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1950 was read as permitting the authority to require from the legal representatives only the material that could have been demanded from the deceased, and the omission to name each legal representative individually in the assessment order did not by itself invalidate the assessment. Rule 6 of Order XXII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 was treated as supporting this approach.

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Issues: Whether an assessment already concluded before the assessee's death could be completed and served on the legal representatives without issuing a fresh pre-assessment notice to them, and whether the assessment was invalid because the names of the legal representatives were not specified in the assessment order.

Analysis: Section 24(3) of the Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1950 permits the taxing authority, where the deceased had not furnished a proper return, to require from the executor, administrator or other legal representative only such accounts, documents or other evidence as could have been required from the deceased had he survived. The provision does not require a fresh notice to the legal representatives where the assessment proceedings had already been taken to a close during the deceased's lifetime and only the formal order of assessment remained to be passed. In such a situation, the assessment order and demand notice may be served on the legal representatives after death, and the subsequent death does not affect the validity of the assessment. The omission to specify the names of the legal representatives in the assessment order was also held not to vitiate the assessment where the proceedings had already been completed and the orders were served on the persons treated by the authority as the legal representatives. The principle underlying Rule 6 of Order XXII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 was treated as supporting this conclusion.

Conclusion: Fresh pre-assessment notice to the legal representatives was not required, and the assessment was valid despite the absence of their individual names in the assessment order.

Ratio Decidendi: Where assessment proceedings against a deceased assessee had substantially concluded during his lifetime, the taxing authority may validly pass and serve the assessment order on the legal representatives without issuing a fresh pre-assessment notice to them, and the assessment is not invalid merely because the order does not name each legal representative individually.

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