ITO Vs Puspa Kothari (ITAT Kolkata)
Notice to the Dead? Assessment Dies Too, Rules Kolkata ITAT- Fatal Jurisdictional Error: Assessment on Dead Person Held Void Ab Initio
Revenue appealed against the NFAC order deleting additions u/s 68 (₹12,64,110) & u/s 69C (₹37,935). The core legal issue, however, was whether the assessment itself—completed u/s 143(3) r.w.s. 147 on 29.09.2021—was valid, since it was passed against a deceased assessee, Sunder Lal Kothari, who had died earlier on 11.05.2021.
From the record, including the affidavit of the deceased’s daughter & the request for registration of legal heirs filed on the income-tax portal on 07.09.2021 , it was clear that the Department had full knowledge of the death well before issuing the show-cause notice on 23.09.2021 & before passing the assessment order.
Despite this, the AO issued notice & completed assessment in the name of the dead person, rendering the proceedings void ab initio. The ITAT relied on its own coordinate bench ruling in Sumitra Devi Agarwal (L/H of Late Gokul Chand Agarwal) & on the Calcutta High Court judgment in Shilpa Agarwal v. ITO (WPA 9183/2024), which held that any assessment or notice issued on a deceased person—after the Department is informed of the death—is a nullity in law & all consequential actions automatically fall.
