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TMI Blog1972 (9) TMI 22X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a partner of the firm, retired and on December 26, 1963, M/s. Krishnaswami and Thiagarajan, two other partners of the firm, also retired. The partnership firm was continued by Perumalsami and Uthamraj, the two remaining partners, up to January 3, 1965, on which date the firm was dissolved. For the assessment year 1963-64, the petitioner filed a return of income and this return was accompanied by a statement of the auditor, containing the above facts relating to the partnership firm and also a statement that the deed of partnership was executed on December 27, 1963, between the two partners to continue the firm and the application for registration for 1964-65 was also filed on February 15, 1964. The petitioner was doing business in purchas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rtained the belief that the assessee's income had been under-assessed in the original assessment. The petitioner filed an objection on April 20, 1968, to the notice issued under section 148 of the Act. It may be stated that one of the objections taken by the petitioner was that the notice served on Krishnaswami was not legal and valid and there was no proper notice served on the petitioner. Thereafter the petitioner has filed this writ petition. Though the petitioner had raised a number of grounds in the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, Thiru K. Srinivasan, the learned counsel for the petitioner, had confined himself to only two of the grounds in the arguments. The first contention was that a valid notice was a condition p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e. But, what the learned counsel for the revenue would contend is that the phrase " immediately before " occurring in section 283(2) should not be given its ordinary and plain meaning but should be understood and given a meaning with reference to the year of assessment and that the notice issued is in respect of under-assessment of the income of the firm for the assessment year 1963-64 and that, therefore, the notice could be issued to any of the persons who were partners during the accounting year relevant to the assessment year. We are unable to accept this argument of the learned counsel for the revenue. Under section 187, where at the time of making an assessment under section 143 or section 144, it was found that a change had occurred ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... id notice was not issued as required, the proceeding taken by the Income-tax Officer in pursuance of an invalid notice and consequent orders of reassessment passed by him would be void and inoperative. The learned counsel for the revenue submitted that this decision of the Supreme Court rested on the language of section 34 and that the provisions of sections 147 and 148 had not made service of notice the foundation for the initiation of the reassessment proceedings. Section 34 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, required the Income-tax Officer to "serve on the assessee .... a notice .... and may proceed to assess or reassess ......" Because this section requires that notice to be served and then proceed to assess, the notice was considered ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessee is a condition precedent to the validity of any reassessment under section 147. It is next contended by the learned counsel for the revenue that the notice issued and served on Krishnaswami, a retired partner, found its way to the petitioner and in fact the petitioner filed an objection to the notice and that, therefore, there was a valid initiation of the reassessment proceedings. We are unable to accept this contention of the learned counsel for revenue. Section 282 of the Act provides for the mode of service and section 283(2) is a special provision relating to the mode of service in cases of dissolved firms. Unless the notice is served in the prescribed manner, the service is insufficient. In Nataraj v. Fifth Income-tax Offic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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