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TMI Blog1965 (12) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s and in the circumstances of the case the service of the notice under section 34 on the assessee was invalid at law as copy of the notice was not affixed at any conspicuous place in the court-house or at any conspicuous place in the income-tax office." The facts have been stated in the referring order, but I may briefly recapitulate them for our present purpose. The assessee, Seth Bal Kishan Dass was assessed originally in February, 1948. Later, the Income-tax Officer had reason to believe that certain immovable property and shares in companies acquired by the assessee during the accounting period had escaped assessment because the same had not been disclosed in the original return. A notice for personal service under section 34(1)(a) of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing to him, court-house, as used in rule 20, should, for the purpose of the present case, be deemed to mean income-tax office because the word " court " has a varied import. The counsel has referred us to the Oxford English Dictionary, according to which the word " court " means the place, hall or chamber in which justice is administered. The place where the Income-tax Officer holds assessment proceedings may well, according to the learned counsel, mean court-house. Stress has in this connection been laid on the argument that the department did not care to rely on the refusal by the assessee to accept the service of the notice when personally tendered to him by the process-server; nor did the department rely on the notice despatched by regi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of informing the person to be served of the contents of the notice. In the case in hand, affixation in the court-house or in the income-tax office could not have been more effective than affixation on the outer door of the residence of the assessee; and when the assessee had also declined to receive a copy of the notice, service of the notice should not be held to be invalid merely because of omission to affix a copy in the court-house or in the income-tax office. According to the counsel, Order V, rule 20, has to be construed in a practical way and being a rule of procedure, it should be so construed as to subserve the real purpose and should not be allowed to obstruct or defeat the cause of justice. The counsel has also controverted the s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ming Bath Trust. Passing reference has also been made to page 919 of the Law and Practice of Income-tax by Kanga (5th edition), where it is stated that it is open to the court without raising new and different questions to resettle or reaffirm the question formulated by the Tribunal before answering them so as to bring out the real issue between the parties. It is argued by Shri Awasthy that according to the decision of the Supreme Court in S. C. Prashar v. Vasantsen Dwarkadas, it is the date on which the notice is issued which is important for the purpose of determining the validity of reassessment from the point of view of the period of limitation postulated by section 34(1). If, therefore, the notice in the instant case was issued by r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... idate the service of the notice effected by post. If, therefore, the notice was actually issued within eight years, as it was in the present case, the service of the notice would be perfectly valid, and we so hold. Incidentally, I may point out that even under the Code of Civil Procedure, service can in the very first instance be effected by registered post as is clear from the proviso added by this court to rule 10 of Order V, Code of Civil Procedure. The objection that the question referred does not justify this court in taking the view we propose to take appears to me to be untenable. The question referred merely relates to the validity of the service of notice under section 34 and is not confined to the consideration of Order V, rule ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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