Assessment under section 144 was quashed because the assessing...

Assessment under section 144 was quashed because the assessing officer omitted the mandatory issuance of the statutory notice under section 143(2) after a return filed in response to a notice under section 142(1); the omission deprived the AO of jurisdiction to frame the assessment, and the return filed by the taxpayer was treated as valid. Consequentially, penalty under the penalty provision for failure to get accounts audited was deleted because the foundational assessment was invalid, applying the maxim Sublato fundamento cadit opus and resulting in allowance of the taxpayer's appeals.

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