Service of notice upon a dead person under section 142(1) would not authorise him to assume jurisdiction to pass assessment order on the Legal Representatives – ITAT Ahemdabad

It is found that before service of notice under section 142(1), assessee had already expired. His legal heirs did not file return for this assessment year. Therefore, the right course for the AO is to find out L/Rs, and more particularly, L/R who has inherited assets and liabilities of Deceased Assesee because Legal Representative is liable to pay taxes of the deceased only equivalent to the property inherited from the deceased.

Therefore, procedure followed by the AO in the present case is patently illegal.