Late Bhupendra Bhikhalal Desai (Since Decd.) Through Legal Heir Raju Bhupendra Desai Vs ITO (Gujarat High Court)
Summary: The Gujarat High Court at Ahmedabad, by a common oral judgment dated 08/03/2021, allowed the writ-applications challenging proceedings initiated under Section 153C of the Income-tax Act, 1961 against a deceased assessee. Special Civil Application No. 22441 of 2019 was treated as the lead matter, and the connected applications were disposed of on the same line.
Read SC Judgment in this case: SC Declines Interference with HC Quashing Section 153C Notice to Deceased Assessee
The original assessee, late Bhupendrabhai Bhikhalal Desai, had filed the relevant return under Section 139 of the Act on 6 January 2012 and died on 23 April 2017. A notice under Section 153C dated 29 March 2019 was nevertheless issued in his name. The son, Rajubhai Bhupendrabhai Desai, informed the Department by reply dated 9 October 2019 that his father had died and requested that the proceedings be dropped.
The Department rejected the objection. It relied, among other things, upon the fact that the Department had not earlier been informed of the death, that no legal heir had been registered with the PAN, that no PAN surrender application had been made, and that returns for AYs 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 had been filed in the deceased’s name, with verification by his wife. The Department also relied on Sections 124(3)(c), 139A(5)(d), 140, 153C and 2(31) of the Act and contended that the legal heir could fall within the expression “person” and that the defect in the notice could not invalidate the proceedings.
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