Law:

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Section 59(b) of the estate duty act, 1953-Reassessment-Information-Whether audit objection relating to valuation of shares constituted information on basis of which assessment could be reopened-Held, no Facts The estate of the deceased included certain shares in a private limited company, the value of which, as determined and assessed by the department, was accepted by the accountable person. The assessment was then reopened on the ground that, as pointed out upon a revenue audit, there were mistakes in the valuation of the shares which had resulted in the estate having been under-assessed. On writ : Held It is clear now in law that audit objections do not furnish information to the tax authorities which enable them to reopen assessments. Upon the communication by the revenue audit, the Assistant Controller changed his opinion as to the details of the valuation of the shares and such change of opinion did not constitute information within the meaning of section 59(b). Therefore, the assessment could not be reopened. WRIT PETITION NO. 949 OF 1980. I.M. Munim and V.J. Mehta for the Petitioner. R.J. Joshi and Dinesh Parekh for the Respondent. JUDGMENT 1. This petition impugns a notice of reopening of assessment issued under section 59 of the Estate Duty Act, 1953 ('the Act'). 2. One Kasturbai Chandrasen Ashar died on 11-10-1975. Her husband as the accountable person submitted an account for the purposes of estate duty to the department. The estate included 81 shares of the International Cotton Corporation (P.) Ltd., a private limited company. Based upon a valuation report, the value of these shares was shown at the rate of Rs. 1, 217.23 per share. There was correspondence in regard to this value. Ultimately, the department valued the shares at Rs. 1,693 inclusive of goodwill and appreciation of assets estimated at Rs. 262. The accountable person accepted this valuation and the estate duty required to be paid upon the assessment was duly paid. The accountable person died on 18-10-1978. 3. On 1-5-1980, a notice was addressed to the accountable person by the Additional First Assistant Controller of Estate Duty in respect of the estate of the late Kasturbai. He…

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