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Issues involved: Assessment of income, validity of penalty imposed, compliance with prescribed form for filing return.
Assessment of Income: The assessee, a physician with private practice, filed a return disclosing income from profession. Subsequently, the Income-tax Officer computed total income higher than declared. Appellate authorities varied on the taxable income, with the Tribunal reducing income from private practice. The case was referred for penalty imposition exceeding Rs. 1,000. Validity of Penalty Imposed: The Inspecting Assistant Commissioner levied a penalty of Rs. 10,000, which the assessee appealed against. The Tribunal held the original return invalid due to not being in prescribed form, rendering penalty imposition illegal. Compliance with Prescribed Form: The Tribunal referred the question of penalty validity based on the form of return filed by the assessee. Section 139 of the Income-tax Act mandates the return to be in the appropriate prescribed form. The court emphasized the mandatory nature of filing in the correct form, citing relevant case law to support the view that an incorrect form could be ignored by the Income-tax Officer. The court highlighted that the return filed in the wrong form was not valid as per the Act and rules, supporting the Tribunal's decision to ignore the original return. The court rejected the department's reliance on a subsequent section and emphasized that the legal position prior to the new provision deemed defective returns as invalid. Consequently, the penalty imposed on the assessee was deemed invalid, ruling in favor of the assessee and awarding costs.
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