Case Law Details
Late Bhupendra Bhikhalal Desai (Since Decd.) Through Legal Heir Raju Bhupendra Desai Vs ITO (Gujarat High Court)
The only proposition of law that is applicable in the present litigation is that a notice, be it under Section 148 of the Act or Section 153C of the Act, issued to a dead person, is unenforceable in law. If such is the legal position, the Revenue cannot contend that as they had no knowledge about the death of the assessee, they are entitled to plead that the notice is not defective.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF GUJARAT HIGH COURT
ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN, J. – “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” Thus spake Benjamin Franklin in his letter of 13.11.1789 to Jean Baptiste Leroy. To tax the dead is a contradiction in terms. Tax laws are made by the living to tax the living. What survives the dead person is what is left behind in the form of such person’s property. [see Shabina Abraham and others vs. Collector of Central Excise and Customs, (2015) 10 SCC 770]
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
[2021] 131 taxmann. com 40 (SC)/[2021] 283 Taxman 189 (SC)[03-09-2021}
INCOME TAX : SLP dismissed against High Court’s ruling that notice issued under section 153C against dead person is unenforceable in law