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TMI Blog1968 (5) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Court of the Special judge for Greater Bombay, Mr. A. S. R. Chari, learned counsel, challenges the order, dated November 24, 1965, passed by the High Court of Bombay, in Criminal Revision Application No. 232 of 1965. There are five accused, in Special 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 s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... " valuable security. Therefore, he held that the charge framed under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code was correct. There were certain other objections raised by the appellant, viz , that sanction had not been obtained under section 196A of the 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 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y, though it may be that the computation of income, as found in the assessment order, may be the result of cheating practised by the accused. Therefore, the accused cannot be considered to have, by cheating, dishonestly induced the Income-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 t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd the amount of tax payable. But it is not as if that the assessment order is valueless, as is sought to be made out. The question that arises for consideration in this case is whether there is any " delivery of property ", or at any 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 deman ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... established, the accused have dishonestly induced the Income-tax Officer to deliver the particular property, viz., the assessment order as passed by him in and by which a considerably low amount has been determined as the total income 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 offenc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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