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TMI Blog1986 (5) TMI 69X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ties and the stand of the parties being common and the learned first appellate authority having disposed of all the appeals by a common order and more so, a common paper book having been placed on our file also, as of compulsion and for the sake of convenience, we are disposing of all the appeals by this common order. 2. The following table will give the background facts: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Assessment Due date for Dates on which Penalty Effect of the order year filing of the the returns have imposed of the learned first return been filed Rs. appellate authority ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he show-cause notices issued on23-3-1979were duly served on him. (ii) That notices for date of hearing fixed for6-3-1981have been duly served by affixture on3-3-1981. (iii) That the WTO had already initiated assessment proceedings under section 14/17 of the Act for the various years under appeal requiring the assessee to file his net wealth-tax returns. The learned AAC detailed these notices as under : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Assessment Date of issue of Date of Date of Served on and remarks year notice under issue service section 14/17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1969-70 Notice under 9-1-1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or the assessment years 1969-70, 1970-71 and 1972-73 were held to be legal. For the assessment years 1971-72, 1974-75 and 1975-76, the learned AAC held that no notices have been issued and accordingly the assessee was entitled to claim of immunity under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme and no penalty was leviable. Penalties for these assessment years, viz., 1971-72, 1974-75 and 1975-76 were cancelled by the learned AAC. For these years the revenue is in appeal while for other four years where penalties have been sustained, the assessee is in appeal. About claim of immunity under Voluntary Disclosure Scheme the learned AAC held that immunity was to be available to the assessee if no notice has been served on the assessee before 8-10-1975 for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ile as assessee's paper book pages 10 and 11. These have been relied upon for the purposes of proving the factum of the assessee having filed original returns of net wealth. Original assessment records were also produced for our perusal by the learned departmental representative and this fact stands verified from the records also. So once it is so, i.e., that original returns stood filed under section 14(1) for the assessment years 1969-70 and 1970-71, it has to be held that qua the returns of net wealth filed by the assessee for these two years on 31-12-1975, i.e., under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme, the assessee is entitled to immunity for belated filing of return vis-a-vis the difference in the net wealth declared in the original retu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r on Shri Arun Talwar, the notices could be said to be valid and legal under the provisions of the Act ? 6. Section 41 of the Act deals with the topic 'service of notice' and it reads as under: "(1) A notice or a requisition under this Act may be served on the person therein named either by post or as if it were a summons issued by a Court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908). (2) Any such notice or requisition may, in the case of a firm or a Hindu undivided family, be addressed to any member of the firm or to the manager or any adult male member of the family, and in the case of any other association of persons be addressed to the principal officer thereof. (3) After a finding of total partition has been recorded by the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Voluntary Disclosure Scheme vis-a-vis returns filed on 31-12-1975 was available and penalties for late filing of returns for these years were not exigible. We hold and direct accordingly and for the sake of fortification we give hereunder the extract from Mohammed Idrees Barry & Co. v. CIT [1957] 32 ITR 180 (Lahore). The circumstance that a person not authorised to receive a notice, has on some prior occasions accepted service and signed the acknowledgement and in pursuance thereof, produced before the WTO some account books of the assessee for inspection, would not make the service upon such unauthorised person valid so as to be binding on the assessee particularly when prejudice will be caused to the assessee by holding that the service ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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