JUDGMENT :

J.B.PARDIWALA, J.

ROHINTON FALI NARIMAN, J. – “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” Thus spake Benjamin Franklin in his letter of 13.11.1789 to Jean Baptiste Leroy. To tax the dead is a contradiction in terms. Tax laws are made by the living to tax the living. What survives the dead person is what is left behind in the form of such person's property. [see Shabina Abraham and others vs. Collector of Central Excise and Customs, (2015) 10 SCC 770]

1. We are tempted to preface our judgment with the aforenoted observations of the Supreme Court as in the case on hand also the Revenue wants to proceed against the legal heir of the deceased by issuing a notice under Section 153C of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short, 'the Act 1961'). Such notice is issued to a dead person.

2. Since the issues raised in all the captioned writ applications are the same and the assessee is also the same, those were taken up for hearing analogously and are being disposed of by this common judgment and order.

3. For the sake of convenience, the Special Civil Application No.22441 of 2019 is treated as