TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 1647
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....7 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), for Assessment Year 2009-10. 2. Grounds of appeal raised by the Revenue read as under: 1(a) The Ld. CIT(A) has erred in not appreciating the fact that assessment was made not on a dead person but it was made in the name of Sh. Vinod Choudhary (deceased) through S.C. Nanda, Advocate, the Executor of the deceased person. (b) The Ld. CIT(A) has erred in not appreciating the fact that during the course of assessment proceedings the AR of the assessee filed a copy of Will which was clearly depicting the fact that Sh. S.C. Nanda, Advocate was appointed as Executor by the deceased assessee for all the legal proceedings Ground 2 (c) The Ld. CIT(A) has erred i....
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.... holding the notice issued under Section 148 of the Act as invalid, having been issued in the name of a dead person, and consequently treating the reassessment order as null and void. 4. It is seen that in his order the Ld. CIT(A) allowed the assessee's appeal by treating the reassessment as null and void, inter alia, by observing as under: "7. During the appellate proceedings, ....... the legal heir of the appellant has challenged the very validity of the notice dated 18.02.2016 issued u/s 148 of the Act. Accordingly, the said issue is taken up for adjudication first. 7.1 Submissions filed by the legal heir of the appellant and the copy of the death certificate filed along with, shows that the appellant had passed away....
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....the assessee. 7.3 She has also relied on the following case laws, the relevant extract of which was made part of her submissions, in support of the contention that the notice issued in the name of a dead person is not a valid notice: ....... ....... . 7.6 As a dead individual is not a person in the eyes of law, assessment or reassessment proceedings or subsequent proceedings taken in his name will be invalid. The Department must bring all the legal representatives on record and continue proceedings against them as required under and in accordance with section 159 of the Act, which provides that any reassessment proceeding taken against the deceased before his death may be continued against the legal repre....
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....der dated 26.12.2016 becomes null and void, and all the three grounds, vis. 1, 2 & 7 raised by the appellant are hereby allowed." 5. Aggrieved, the Revenue is in appeal before us. For the first time it appears from page 8 of the paper book filed by the Learned DR that notice under Section 148 was issued on 03.03.2016. The moot question before us is as to whether the 148 proceeding is sustainable in the eyes of law when admittedly the notice under Section 148 of the Act has been issued in the name of the deceased person. 6. None appears on behalf of the assessee inspite of notices being sent on very many occasions and thus as the matter was before us for a long time we have preferred to finalize the issue in the absence of the assessee....
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....gs against the deceased assessee. In our considered opinion the entire proceeding is, thus, vitiated and therefore, liable to be quashed. 8. In this regard the Learned DR relied on the ratio of decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Mahagun Realer Pvt. Ltd. (2022) 443 ITR 194(SC) facts of which are completely different as it appears from the order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court the matter relates to amalgamation and in our considered opinion as the fact is completely different from the facts of the case before us, the said judgment is not applicable rather the order passed by the Hon'ble Jurisdictional High Court in the cases of Braham Prakash v. ITO (2005) 275 ITR 242; Savita Kapila v. ACIT (2020) 426 ITR 502; and Vipin W....