9911796707
TMI Blog1968 (5) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ial Case No. 9 of 1963. The appellant and accused No. 4, are partners of an industrial concerned known as " Premier Industries ". Accused No. 1 is an income-tax consultant, and accused Nos. 2 and 3 are clerks in the income-tax department. The substance of the prosecution case against these five accused is that they formed a conspiracy to cheat the income-tax authorities in respect of the income-tax assessments of the Premier Industries for the assessment year 1960-61, and, in pursuance of the said conspiracy, committed offences under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, and section 5(1)(d) read with section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 (II of 1947) hereinafter called " the Act "). They have also been charged with an offen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Code of Criminal Procedure that where the offence itself was alleged to have been committed in pursuance of the conspiracy and was the subject-matter of charge no charge of conspiracy could still be maintained, and that the period of conspiracy had been artificially fixed in the charge. These objections have also been overruled by the Special judge. The appellant carried the matter in revision before the High Court of Bombay. The learned judge, by his order dated November 24, 1965, which is under attack, has confirmed the order of the Special judge. Here again, the High Court has taken the view that the assessment order is " property " and it is also " valuable security " under section 30 of the Indian Penal Code. The High Court is fur ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tax Officer to deliver the assessment order, because that is issued to a party as a matter of routine. The assessment order, cannot also be considered to be " property " within the meaning of section 420 of the Indian Penal Code. It cannot also be stated that the accused, by cheating, have dishonestly induced the Income-tax Officer to make a valuable security because an assessment order can in no case be considered to be a valuable security. No legal right is created by an assessment order. The liability to payment of income-tax is created by the charging section, section 3 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, and the demand for payment of tax is made on the basis of a notice of demand issued by the Income-tax Officer concerned. At the most ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y rate, whether the Income-tax Officer has been induced " to make a valuable security " " Movable property " is defined in section 22 of the Indian Penal Code, document " and " valuable security " are defined in sections 29 and 30 of the Indian Penal Code, respectively. Under the scheme of the Income-tax Act, it is clear that the assessment order determines the total income of the assessee and the tax payable on the basis of such assessment. The assessment order has to be served on the assessee. The tax is demanded by the issue of a notice under section 29; but the tax demanded is on the basis of the assessment order communicated to an assessee. The communicated order of assessment received by an assessee is in our opinion, " property ", ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ncome of the assessee, on the basis of which the amount of tax has been fixed. Nor are we impressed with the contention that the deception, if at all, is practised, not when the assessment order is delivered, but at the stage when the computation of the total income is made by the Income-tax Officer. The process of " cheating " employed by an assessee, if successful would have the result of dishonestly inducing the Income-tax Officer to make a wrong assessment order and communicate the same to an assessee. An offence under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code will also be made out, if it is established that the accused have cheated and, thereby, dishonestly induced the Income-tax Officer to make a " valuable security ". This takes us to t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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