Amitava Lala, J. - (1.) This is an application in the nature of a writ petition challenging" the order of reassessment under Section 147 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, prior to the coming into force of the latest amendment of this Act. The provisions of Section 147 of the said Act are as follows : "147. Income escaping assessment--If the Assessing Officer, has reason to believe that any income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for any assessment year, he may, subject to the provisions of Section 148 to 153, assess or reassess such income and also any other income chargeable to tax which has escaped assessment and which comes to his notice subsequently in the course of the proceedings under this section, or recompute the loss or the depreciation allowance or any other allowance, as the case may be, for the assessment year concerned (hereafter in this section and in Sections 148 to 153 referred to as the relevant assessment year) : Provided that where an assessment under Sub-section (3) of Section 143 or this section has been made for the relevant assessment year, no action shall be taken under this section after the expiry of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year, unless any income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for such assessment year by reason of the failure on the part of the assessee to make a return under Section 139 or in response to a notice issued under Sub-section (1) of Section 142 or Section 148 or to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for his assessment for that assessment year."
(2.) Under Section 148(2) of the said Act, the Income-tax Officer shall, before issuing any notice under this section, record his reasons for doing so. This part of the aforesaid section is making room for the purpose of the applicability of Section 147 as aforesaid on account of issue of notice where income has escaped assessment.
(3.) The petitioner has made out a case that neither there is a reason of omission or failure on the part of the assessee to make a return for the relevant assessment year to the Income-tax Officer nor income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for that year.;