TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (1) TMI 510
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....dings thereto. FACTUAL MATRIX: 2. Shorn of unnecessary details, the original assessee Lal Chand Verma passed away on 30 July 2021. It appears that the Income Tax Officer acting on the basis of a statement purportedly made by another assessee, namely, Sh. Sanjay Jain during assessment proceedings pertaining to the latter, proceeded to issue a notice under Section 148A(b)^1 of the Act, in relation to the Assessment Year 2019-2020, dated 30 March 2023, calling upon the deceased assessee to furnish an explanation as to why certain financial transactions should not be considered as income chargeable to tax, and inter-alia indicating that a notice under Section 148^2 of the Act might be issued for reassessment on the basis of the alleged escaped income. 3. In response to the said notice, the son/legal heir of the deceased assessee submitted a reply on 01 April 2023 wherein he unequivocally apprised the respondent of the demise of his father/assessee, furnishing alongwith a copy of the death certificate as conclusive evidence, and asserted that the notice was null and void ab initio. However, notwithstanding the factum of the death of the assessee having been brought to the atten....
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....ed however that though the writ of prohibition or certiorari will not issue against an executive authority, the High Courts have power to issue in a fit case an order prohibiting an executive authority from acting without jurisdiction. Where such action of an executive authority acting without jurisdiction subjects or is likely to subject a person to lengthy proceedings and unnecessary harassment, the High Courts, it is well settled, will issue appropriate orders or directions to prevent such consequences. Mr. Sastri mentioned more than once the fact that the company would have sufficient opportunity to raise this question, viz., whether the Income-tax Officer had reason to believe that under-assessment had resulted from non-disclosure of material facts, before the Income-tax Officer himself in the assessment proceedings and if unsuccessful there before the appellate officer or the Appellate Tribunal or in the High Court under section 66 (2) of the Indian Income-tax Act. The existence of such alternative remedy is not however always a sufficient reason for refusing a party quick relief by a writ or order prohibiting an authority acting without jurisdiction from continuing ....
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....ied, in the like manner and to the same extent as the deceased. (2) For the purpose of making an assessment (including an assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147) of the income of the deceased and for the purpose of levying any sum in the hands of the legal representative in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1),- (a) any proceeding taken against the deceased before his death shall be deemed to have been taken against the legal representative and may be continued against the legal representative from the stage at which it stood on the date of the death of the deceased; (b) any proceeding which could have been taken against the deceased if he had survived, may be taken against the legal representative; and (c) all the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly. (3) The legal representative of the deceased shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be an assessee. (4) Every legal representative shall be personally liable for any tax payable by him in his capacity as legal representative if, while his liability for tax remains undischarged, he creates a charge on or disposes of or parts wi....
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....thirty days from the date on which such notice is issued, or such time, as may be extended by him on the basis of an application in this behalf, as to why a notice under section 148 should not be issued on the basis of information which suggests that income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment in his case for the relevant assessment year and results of enquiry conducted, if any, as per clause (a); 2. 148. Issue of notice where income has escaped assessment- Before making the assessment, reassessment or recomputation under section 147, and subject to the provisions of section 148A, the Assessing Officer shall serve on the assessee a notice, along with a copy of the order passed, if required, under clause (d) of section 148A, requiring him to furnish within such period, as may be specified in such notice, a return of his income or the income of any other person in respect of which he is assessable under this Act during the previous year corresponding to the relevant assessment year, in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner and setting forth such other particulars as may be prescribed; and the provisions of this Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly....