Proceedings Initiated Against a Deceased Person Are Legally Unsustainable and Must Target Legal Representatives

By | June 1, 2026
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Proceedings Initiated Against a Deceased Person Are Legally Unsustainable and Must Target Legal Representatives

Issue

Whether income tax proceedings initiated and notices issued under Section 148A and Section 274 directly against a deceased assessee are legally sustainable, or if the Revenue is statutorily required to bring such actions exclusively against the legal representatives under Section 159 of the Income-tax Act.

Facts

  • The Income-tax Department initiated reassessment and penalty proceedings by issuing statutory notices under Section 148A and Section 274.

  • The notices were addressed and issued directly to the original assessee.

  • At the time the Revenue issued and served these notices, the original assessee was already deceased.

  • The proceedings were challenged on the ground that the Department failed to invoke Section 159 to substitute and target the legal representatives of the deceased individual.

Decision

  • Held, yes: The initiation of income tax proceedings and the issuance of statutory notices under Section 148A and Section 274 against a person who is already deceased is completely invalid and legally unsustainable.

  • Held, yes: Any tax recovery, reassessment, or penalty action intended for a deceased individual’s estate must be strictly undertaken against their designated legal representatives in compliance with Section 159.

  • Held, yes: Because the impugned notices were fundamentally defective from their inception for targeting a non-existent person, the proceedings are untenable and the ruling stands in favor of the assessee.

Key Takeaways

  • Proceedings Against Deceased are Nullity: A deceased person ceases to be a legal entity. Any notice issued or tax proceeding conducted in the name of a dead person is a fundamental jurisdictional defect that cannot be cured.

  • Mandatory Invocation of Section 159: If an individual passes away, the Assessing Officer must unearth the details of the legal heirs and formally continue or initiate proceedings against them to bind the deceased’s estate.

  • No Retrospective Correction of Dead Notices: The Revenue cannot later modify or validate a notice that was originally generated and dispatched to a deceased individual; the entire process must be restarted correctly against the legal representatives.

HIGH COURT OF RAJASTHAN
Devendra Pareek
v.
Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax*
Sanjeev Prakash Sharma, Actg. CJ.
and Ashutosh Kumar, J.
D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 11884 of 2021
MAY  19, 2026
Gunjan Pathak, Aditya Bohra and Kanishk Singhal for the Petitioner. Siddharth Bapna, Ms. Tanushka Singhal and Rahul Kumar, Adv. for the Respondent.
ORDER
1. Heard.
2. The issue raised in the present writ petition is no more res integra. The department had initiated proceedings under Section 148A of the Income Tax Department, 1961 (for short ‘the Act of 1961’) against the persons who have already expired.
3. The law in this regard is well settled that proceedings against person who has expired, cannot be initiated under Section 148A of the Act of 1961 and what is required to be inducted is by way of taking aid of Section 159 of the Act of 1961, which has not been done in the present case.
4. A Coordinate Bench of this Court in Smt. Sneh Lata Bhandari v. ITO [D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 9985 of 2023], has settled the aforesaid proposition vide judgment dated 27.02.2024. It would be apposite to quote relevant part of the order as under:
“7. This Court is of the firm opinion that the proceedings under the liability created against the legal representatives of the deceased assessee can be initiated against the petitioner but only after compliance of mandatory provisions under Section 148A (b) of the Act of 1961. It is writ large on the record and the reply that the provision of Section 148A(b) of the Act of 1961 has not been complied against the legal representatives of the deceased Smt. Sneh Lata Bhandari.
8. In limited nature of adjudication, the impugned notice dated 21.04.2023 (Annexure-7) under Section 148A of the Act of 1961and the order dated 21.04.2023 (Annexure-8) passed under Section 148A(d) of the Act of 1961 are hereby quashed and set aside.
9. However, the respondents shall be free to reinitiate the proceedings against the legal representatives of the deceased Smt. Sheh Lata Bhandari, while strictly complying with the provisions of the Section 148A(b) and 159 of the Act of 1961.
10. Both the parties shall be free to proceed strictly in accordance with law.
11. Since, the liberty has been given to the respondent-Department to reinitiate the proceedings under Section 148A(b)and Section 159 of the Act of 1961, the limitation period between the filing of the writ petition and till its disposal shall be excluded for the purpose of computation of limitation period for initiating such proceedings.”
5. The same has been again reiterated and followed by another Division Bench of this Court in Meena V. Kumar v. Principal Chief CIT & Anr. [D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 15115 of 2022, dated 22-3-2024].
6. We have no reason to differ and accordingly, the present writ petition stands allowed and notices issued under Section 274 of the Act of 1961 are quashed and set aside with liberty to the respondents to act in accordance with law.