LT. SHRI DATTATRAY VAMANRAO SONAR THROUGH WIFE ARUNA SONAR,UJJAIN vs. ITO UJJAIN, UJJAIN

“5.5 Apparently, notice has not been issued in name of the legal heir and the assessee was not live on the date of issuance of the notice u/s 148. Therefore, it cannot be said that the legal notice has been served on the assessee. Under these circumstances, proceedings u/s 147 initiated and consequently completion of assessment cannot be upheld. 5.6 Accordingly, ground No.1 of the appeal pertaining to the validity of the procedural issues in the assessment proceedings are allowed. Since the assessment procedure itself is invalidated /annulled, ground No. 2 of the appeal pertaining to addition made needs no adjudication at this juncture. 5.7 In this case, the AO is directed to initiate proceedings u/s 147, against the legal heir of the assessee, Shri Nishant Dattatray Sonar, for the AY 2015-16, in accordance with provisions of section 150 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for reopening of the assessment.

6. In the result the appeal is allowed.”

That the Learned CIT(A), NFAC, erred in directing the Assessing Officer to initiate proceedings u/s 147, against the alleged legal heir of a deceased assessee, for the AY 2015-16, in accordance with provisions of section 150 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, for reopening of the assessment. That on the facts and in the circumstances of the case and in law the order of the CIT(A), NFAC is perverse, and bad in law and the same may very kindly be quashed.

Firstly, the powers of Ld. CIT(A) are circumscribed by provisions of (i) section 251 of the Act. While the CIT(A) is empowered to confirm, reduce, enhance, or annul an assessment, the statute confers no power upon the appellate authority to direct the initiation of fresh reassessment proceedings against another person (including a legal

The impugned direction thus falls outside the four corners of section 251.

(ii) Secondly, once the Ld. CIT(A) has categorically held the reassessment proceedings initiated by AO u/s 147 as invalid in law on account of issuance of notice u/s 148 in the name of a deceased person, the entire assessment stands annulled. Having annulled the assessment, the Ld. CIT(A) becomes functus officio qua such proceedings and cannot travel beyond the subject matter of appeal to issue further directions for initiating fresh reassessment proceedings.

(iii) Thirdly, it is a well-settled proposition of law that no assessment proceedings can be validly initiated against or continued in the name of a deceased person and any such defect is non-curable in law. When the foundational notice is void ab initio, any consequential direction to proceed against the legal heir, without independent initiation of proceedings in accordance with law, is equally untenable and contrary to established legal principles.

Fourthly, such direction also offends the principle that an appellate (iv) authority cannot issue directions that are prejudicial to the assessee in a manner that does not arise from or is not warranted by the assessment-order under challenge before it. The impugned direction, which potentially exposes the legal heir to fresh tax proceedings, clearly travels beyond the scope of appellate power.

(vi) Lastly, the direction invoking section 150 of the Act is wholly misconceived. Section 150 operates as a saving provision in matters of limitation; its application is contingent upon the satisfaction of specific statutory preconditions that are required to be independently examined and determined by the AO. The CIT(A) cannot, in exercise of first appellate jurisdiction, pre-judge the applicability of such a provision, much less mandate the AO to act upon it. Such a direction amounts to the appellate authority encroaching upon the independent statutory jurisdiction of the AO.

Order pronounced in open court on 10/04/2026