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5.7 The assessee has vehemently argued that the assessment order, having been framed on a non-existent entity, was a nullity and hence, void ab initio. It has also been claimed that the I.T.A. No. 2561 /Mum/2 021& o thers M/s Candor Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd.

various notices issued in the name of the non-existent entity were illegal and bad in law. For this, the assessee has placed reliance on the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. reported in 416 ITR 613 wherein the Hon'ble Court held that an order issued in the name of a non- existent company (amalgamating company) was a substantive illegality which was not curable under section 292B of the Act.

b) The amalgamating company cannot thereafter be regarded as a "person" in terms of Section 2(31) of the Act against whom assessment proceedings can be initiated and an assessment order passed by relying on Saraswati Industrial Syndicate Ltd. vs. CIT [1990] 186 ITR 278 (SC);

c) The jurisdictional notice under Section 143(2) of the Act, pursuant to which the assessing officer assumed jurisdiction to make an assessment was issued in the name of SPIL, a non-existent entity and was invalid. Hence the initiation of assessment proceedings against a non-existent entity was void ab initio.

h) Participation in the proceedings by MSIL in the circumstances cannot operate as an estoppel against law.

23. Subsequently, various Court/Tribunals followed the law laid down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in Maruti Suzuki Ltd (Supra) and quashed the assessments framed in the name of non-existent entities.

PCIT vs. Mahagun Realtors Pvt Ltd (Supra) - Analysis

24. The Hon'ble Apex Court in the recent case of PCIT vs. Mahagun Realtors Pvt Ltd (MRPL) has, in peculiar facts, held the assessment proceedings initiated and concluded in the name of non-existent entity (amalgamating entity), to be valid. The apex Court distinguished (and not disagreed) its earlier judgment in the case of Maruti Suzuki Ltd (Supra).

(supra). Here right from the day one, the AO was brought to the notice and as was brought on record before him that the erstwhile entity M/s Bhadrawati Ispat & Energy Ltd had already stood amalgamated with M/s Reliable Record Keepers Pvt. Ltd. w.e.f. AY I.T.A. No. 2561 /Mum/2 021& o thers M/s Candor Renewable Energy Pvt. Ltd.

2015-16 only and still he continued with the proceedings u/s 153A in the name of non-existing entity. Thus the entire proceedings including notice u/s 153A and also statutory notice issued in the name of non-existing entity was void ab initio. Consequently, the entire proceeding was illegal. Even the assessment order though which has been captioned as "M/s Bhadrawati Ispat & Energy Ltd. (merged with M/s. Reliable Record Keepers Pvt. Ltd. which has now known as M/s. Candor Renewable Energy Private Limited" is in fact in the name of non-existing entity only.