9911796707
TMI Blog1994 (5) TMI 261X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on is capable of being finally disposed of and there is no necessity of passing of any interim order. 2.. Previously there was an assessment for the period from April 1, 1984 to May 31, 1984 under the 1941 Act in respect of the applicant. Against that, the applicant preferred an application under section 8 of the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal Act, 1987 which was numbered as RN-146 of 1991. That case was disposed of by this Tribunal by a judgment dated May 15, 1992, to which one of us was a party. The majority decision in that case was to the effect that the ex parte assessment order for the period ending May 31, 1984 was set aside with a direction upon the Commercial Tax Officer to initiate fresh proceedings to decide the question of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed notice dated April 21, 1994 asked the applicant to produce documents/records, books of account since 1984-85 to 1992-93 on May 17, 1994 under section 14(1). We are told that the notice was not complied with on May 17, 1994, namely, yesterday, because the present application had been filed in this Tribunal on May 10, 1994 but for unavoidable reasons it could not be moved by the learned advocate for the applicant. 4.. It is submitted before us that on behalf of the applicant an intimation was given to the Commercial Tax Officer to the effect that the instant application was fixed for hearing before this Tribunal this day. 5.. Mr. Pranab Pal, counsel for the applicant, has challenged the notice on two grounds. According to him, since th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as also held to be an omnibus one on the ground that the officer issuing the notice did not apply his mind and did not specify what were the necessary records for the purpose for which the notice was issued. Mr. T.N. De, learned State Representative, has distinguished those two decisions. According to him, section 131 of the Income-tax Act and section 14(1) of the 1941 Act are not in pari materia. He drew our attention to section 21A of the 1941 Act and according to him, that is the provision which is rather in pari materia with section 131 of the Income-tax Act. Mr. Pal appearing for the applicant, however, referred to Dwijendra Lal Brahmachari v. New Central Jute Mills Co. Ltd. [1978] 112 ITR 568 on the ground that section 131 of the Inco ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ppear that in the previous cases of assessments for the periods ending May 31, 1984, May 31, 1985 and May 31, 1986, this Tribunal had held that the Commercial Tax Officer should, at first, determine the applicants liability to pay tax under section 4(2) read with section 4(5)(d) of the 1941 Act and thereafter, if necessary, proceed to make assessments. The applicants have preferred appeals before the Supreme Court but they have failed to obtain any stay of the decisions. Therefore, the Commercial Tax Officer is at liberty to comply with the said decisions, namely, to determine liability of the applicant to pay tax and thereafter, if necessary, to proceed for making assessments. It is true that the impugned notice dated April 21, 1994 has m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ication of mind by the Income-tax Officer and thereby non-specification in the notice of the documents/ records and books of account which could be required for the purposes for which the notice was issued, though several books of account were specified such as ledger, cash book, etc. To us, it appears that the decision in that case had a different dimension. There, a bank was involved and asking a bank to produce their cash book, ledger, etc., even for a single year without specifying the particular necessary documents, might have been the reason for quashing the notice. In our view, that decision of the High Court of Calcutta does not help the applicant. In the present case, the only problem is that the notice has directed the applicant t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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