ITO Vs Narendra Kumar Agarwal (Calcutta High Court)
Issue: Whether reassessment proceedings under Sections 148A(d) and 148 can be sustained when initiated against a deceased assessee despite the Department having prior knowledge of the death.
The Calcutta High Court dismissed the Department’s appeal and declined to interfere with the Single Judge’s order quashing the order passed under Section 148A(d) and the consequential notice issued under Section 148 for Assessment Year 2020-21. The Department had received information regarding alleged bogus purchases and issued proceedings after the assessee’s death, despite a death certificate having been uploaded in the e-proceedings portal and despite an earlier High Court order quashing a similar notice for Assessment Year 2018-19 on the same ground. The Department contended that it could not identify the legal heirs due to non-cooperation and therefore issued the notice in the name of the “Legal Heir of Late Chiranji Lal Agarwala” using the deceased’s PAN. The Court held that the Department had full knowledge of the assessee’s death and found no error in the Single Judge’s conclusion that the proceedings had effectively been initiated against a deceased person. It held that using the deceased’s PAN for technical reasons did not justify continuing proceedings against a non-existent entity and dismissed the appeal along with the connected application.
