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Issues involved: Interpretation of section 53 of the Karnataka Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1957 regarding the power of civil courts to call for documents produced by an assessee.
The judgment addressed the issue of whether the provisions of section 53 of the Karnataka Agricultural Income-tax Act, as substituted by Act No. 29 of 1976, affect the power of civil courts to call for documents, returns, and papers produced by an assessee in proceedings pending before the authorities under the Act. The petitioners, defendants in a suit for partition, had their defense challenged by the plaintiffs who sought to summon the returns and assessment orders of the petitioners. The trial court allowed this, leading to a revision petition and subsequent reference to a Division Bench due to conflicting judgments on the matter. The court emphasized that the substitution of an existing provision by a new one does not attract section 6 of the General Clauses Act. Referring to previous decisions, the court highlighted that the amended provision should be applied as if it had always been part of the law. The court cited the decision in Shah Chunilal Sohanraj v. Gurushantappa to support this principle of statutory construction. Furthermore, the court referred to the decision of the Supreme Court in Shamrao v. District Magistrate, Thana, to establish the canons of construction when an Act is amended. The court concluded that the amended provision should be applied when the proceedings are pending, and not the old provision which has ceased to exist. Regarding the specific amendment to section 53 of the Act, the court noted that the omission of the word "court" in the new provision indicates that the bar on civil courts to call for documents from Income-tax authorities under the old provision has been removed. Consequently, the civil court has the power to summon documents filed by an assessee before the Income-tax Authorities, unless privilege in public interest is pleaded by the authorities. In conclusion, the court answered the question referred by stating that the civil court does have the power to summon documents, papers, and returns filed by an assessee before the Income-tax Authorities, based on the amended provisions of section 53. The civil revision petitions were to be disposed of accordingly in light of this answer.
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