2026 (3) TMI 1420

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.... Single Judge in W.P.No.39793 of 2025, the unsuccessful writ petitioner has filed this writ appeal. 2. The appellant, by way of the writ petition, challenged the order dated 31.03.2024 passed under Section 148A(d) of the Income Tax Act, 1961; the Assessment Order dated 17.02.2025; and the notice of demand dated 17.02.2025 issued under Section 156 of the Act, mainly on the ground that the same have been passed and issued against a person, who died on 4.1.2024. 3. The learned Single Judge, vide the order impugned dated 27.10.2025, held that the mandate of Section 159(1) of the Act makes it clear that when a person dies, his legal representative is liable to pay any sum which the deceased would have been liable to pay if he had not died,....

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....a decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Meet Lalwani v. Income-tax Officer and another [(2025) 483 ITR 172 (MP)]. 5. Learned counsel for the respondents reiterated the submissions made before the learned Single Judge and justified the order impugned passed by the learned Single Judge. 6. In the case on hand, it is beyond any cavil that the impugned proceedings were drawn against a person who died on 4.1.2024. 7. Considering an identical issue, in Meet Lalwani (supra), a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, in which myself was a member, after referring to a series of judgments of various High Courts observed that the notice and all consequential proceedings issued to a dead person are null and void. The relevant p....

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....person and not to a dead person is not merely a procedural requirement but is a condition precedent to the impugned notice being valid in law. Thus, a notice which has been issued in the name of the dead person is also not protected either by provisions of section 292B or 292BB of the Act. This is so as the requirement of issuing a notice in the name of correct person is the foundational requirement to acquire jurisdiction to reopen the assessment. This is evident from section 148 of the Act, which requires that before a proceeding can be taken up for reassessment, a notice must be served upon the assessee. The assessee on whom the notice must be sent must be a living person, i.e., legal heir of the deceased assessee, for the same to be res....