9911796707
TMI Blog1968 (3) TMI 20X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has not been in dispute. The question, which is in a compendious form, is to this effect: " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Income-tax Officer, "C" Ward, Jullundur, was not bound, to give the assessee an opportunity of being heard inasmuch as the assessee was aware of the change of jurisdiction to this Income-tax Officer and did not demand such an opportunity ?" The confusing aspect of this question would be apparent after the facts giving rise to it have been briefly recapitulated. The assessee is the registered firm of Messrs. Sat Prakash Ram Naranjan of Nawanshehr, and was assessed for the year 1954-55, the relevant accounting period being the year ending with 12th of April, 1954. Being of the view ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... atter and it was he who actually issued a notice under section 28 to the assessee on 17th of September, 1958. The assessee, in reply, sent a letter to the Income-tax Officer, B-Ward, on 6th of November, 1958, inter alia, making a request, that the matter of levy of penalty should be held over till the disposal of the quantum appeal for the year 1954-55. The matter presumably was allowed to remain in abeyance for a long time. Some time in July, 1959, the jurisdiction over the assessee-firm seems to have been transferred to the Income-tax Officer, C-Ward. The appeal, whose decision the Income-tax Officer, B-Ward, had been requested to await, was disposed of on 2nd of December, 1959. Without any information to the assessee, the Income-tax Offi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n has been made dependent. Mr. Bhagirath Dass, learned counsel for the assessee, has complained that the question has been so formulated that he is now debarred from questioning the two findings or to ask for a fresh reference. It is, however, submitted by him that, even taking these findings which he is not now in a position to challenge as correct, the assessee having come under the jurisdiction of the Income-tax Officer, C-Ward, an independent obligation devolved on this authority to afford an opportunity to the assessee. It is submitted by the learned counsel that the Income-tax Officer, B-Ward, on the assessee's request embodied in the letter of 6th of November, 1958, must be taken to have acceded to it as no further proceedings had ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d in abeyance by the Income-tax Officer, B-Ward ? A decision of the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court in Calcutta Tanneries (1944) Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax has been relied upon by Mr. Bhagirath Dass. In the judgment of Chief Justice Lahiri, with whom Bachawat J. (as Mr. Justice Bachawat then was) concurred, it was held that where one Income-tax Officer had initiated penalty proceedings under section 28(1)(c) of the Act and the hearing of the proceedings was concluded on September 29, 1951, and a long time thereafter a successor officer passed an order on January 14, 1954, imposing a penalty, without giving an opportunity to the assessee to be heard, the provisions of section 5(7C) of the Act applied and, though the assesse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ee and the proceedings before the Income-tax Officer, B-Ward, had remained in a state of suspended animation for a period of two years, when the successor imposed the penalty without giving any opportunity to the assessee and hearing what the assessee may have to say. Mr. Awasthy places reliance also on the Division Bench authority of the Mysore High Court of Hegde and Ahmed Ali Khan JJ. in Shop Siddegowda and Family v. Commissioner of Income-tax. In that case, one Income-tax Officer issued a notice under section 28(3) to the assessee calling upon him to appear and show cause why penalty should not be levied and the assessee submitted his explanation in writing, but did not choose to appear or ask for an opportunity to adduce evidence or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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