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TMI Blog2010 (1) TMI 850X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t by which he has directed the petitioner to get its accounts audited for the financial years 2001-02 to 2007-08 relevant to the assessment years 2002-03 to 2008-09 by M/s Tandon Seth and Co., Kanpur, who have been nominated by the Commissioner of Income-tax (Central), Kanpur in this behalf. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that no reason whatsoever has been given in the impugned order. He submitted that for the aforesaid direction, it is imperative and obligatory on the part of the officer concerned to consider the reply and to assign reasons. In support of the contention, he relied upon the decision of the Apex Court in the case of Sahara India (Firm) v. CIT [2008] 14 SCC 151. 4. Shri A.N. Mahajan, learned S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Assessing Officer that it is necessary to get the accounts of the assessee audited by an accountant has to be formed only by having regard to: (i) the nature and complexity of the accounts of the assessee; and (ii) the interest of the Revenue. The word "and" signifies conjunction and not disjunction. In other words, the twin conditions of "nature and complexity of the accounts" and "the interest of the Revenue" are the prerequisites for exercise of power under section 142(2A) of the Act. Undoubtedly, the object behind enacting the said provision is to assist the Assessing Officer in framing a correct and proper assessment based on the accounts maintained by the assessee and when he finds the accounts of the assessee to be complex, in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... requirement of previous approval of the Chief Commissioner or the Commissioner in terms of the said provision being an inbuilt protection against any arbitrary or unjust exercise of power by the Assessing Officer, casts a very heavy duty on the said high ranking authority to see to it that the requirement of the previous approval, envisaged in the section is not turned into an empty ritual. Needless to emphasise that before granting approval, the Chief Commissioner or the Commissioner, as the case may be, must have before him the material on the basis whereof an opinion in this behalf has been formed by the Assessing Officer. The approval must reflect the application of mind to the facts of the case." 6.1 The Apex Court in the afor ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... licy or expediency. Absence of reasons vitiates the conclusions. (See Mahabir Prasad Santosh Kumar v. State of U.P. AIR 1970 SC 1302; Travancore Rayons Ltd. v. Union of India AIR 1971 SC 862. In the Travancore Rayons case the order passed by the Government of India ran as under:- "Government of India have carefully considered the points made by the applicants, but see no justification for interfering with the order under appeal" 8. The order was struck down on the ground that reasons for rejecting the points in appeal had not been disclosed in Bhagat Raja v. Union of India AIR 1967 SC 1606 the Supreme Court deprecated the practice of one word order of the type "rejected" or "dismissed". Similarly, in case of Dhondi Ba Gundu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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