Reassessment not maintainable if the assessee is only 'likely' to have claimed incorrect deduction

It is settled law that when the assessment of an assessee is reopened, proper reasons should be recorded in writing. The reasons should be complete on their own and cannot be supplemented in order to be tested against the benchmark of completeness for justifying such reopening. 

The Bombay High Court has recently quashed the reassessment proceedings in a case where such reasons only recorded that it was 'likely' that the assessee might have claimed incorrect deduction. The High Court found that the expression ‘reason to believe’ is not equivalent to a ‘hunch’ or ‘guess’ and nor does it imply a purely subjective satisfaction.