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TMI Blog1971 (5) TMI 13X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Parliament there were the following classes of income-tax authorities for the purposes of the Income-tax Act, 1961 : (a) The Central Board of Direct Taxes constituted under the Central Boards of Revenue Act, 1963 ; (b) Directors of Inspection ; (c) Commissioners of Income-tax ; (d) Assistant Commissioners of Income-tax, who may be either Appellate Assistant Commissioners of Income-tax or Inspecting Assistant Commissioners of Income-tax ; (e) Income-tax Officers; and (f) Inspectors of Income-tax. By that Act section 116 was amended by the substitution of the following clause for clause (c), namely : " (c) Commissioners of Income-tax and Additional Commissioners of Income-tax. " Section 117 was also amended by the insertion of the words " Additional Commissioners of Income-tax " after the words " Directors of Inspection, Commissioners of Income-tax " in sub-section (1). In place of section 130, the following new section was ordered to be substituted, namely : " 130. Commissioner competent to perform any function or functions.---(1) In respect of any function to be performed by a Commissioner under any provision of this Act in relation to an assessee, the Commissio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t. On September 16, 1970, the Additional Commissioner of Income-tax, Delhi-II, issued a notice to the petitioner stating that the assessment order made by the Income-tax Officer was in his opinion prejudicial to the revenue and he proposed to revise the same. The petitioner was also given an opportunity to be heard in person or through a representative duly authorised on its behalf. In reply to that notice the petitioner stated that the Additional Commissioner of Income-tax, Delhi-II, had no jurisdiction to issue the said notice. According to the petitioner, the exercise of such drastic powers could only be by the Commissioner of Income-tax and none else. It was also stated that the Income-tax Officer had also proposed to reopen the assessment on the ground that the income had escaped tax. Such simultaneous action by the authorities amounted to double jeopardy which was repugnant to the rules of natural justice. There was subsequent correspondence between the petitioner and the Additional Commissioner of Income-tax, Delhi-II, whereby the Commissioner was asked to withdraw the notice. The Additional Commissioner having declined to withdraw the notice, the present petition has be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... been newly created. The post of Additional Commissioner of Income-tax has been placed in clause (c) of section 116. He has, therefore, been placed in the same category with the post of Commissioner of Income-tax. In section 117 the post of Additional Commissioner of Income-tax has been interposed between the posts of Directors of Inspection and Appellate or Inspecting Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax along with the Commissioners of Income-tax. The effect of the amendment of these sections is that the Additional Commissioner of Income-tax is an authority in the same class with the Commissioner of Income-tax in sections 116 and 117. Section 130 consists of two sub-sections. Clause (a) of sub-section (1) provides that in a case where only one Commissioner has jurisdiction over an assessee, the function to be performed by the Commissioner will be by that Commissioner. Clause (b) provides that in a case where two or more Commissioners have concurrent jurisdiction over such assessee it shall be the Commissioner empowered to perform such functions by the Board. The word " Commissioner " here, obviously, includes the Additional Commissioner. Sub-section (2) lays down that subject t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1, was persona designata and the notification issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes could not, therefore, enable the Additional Commissioners of Income-tax to perform statutory functions of the Commissioner of Income-tax under section 263. Where the power is to be exercised by the Commissioners of Income-tax as persona designata, the Additional Commissioner of Income-tax, though he may exercise all the powers of a Commissioner, cannot perform the functions which are specifically allotted to him by the statute. It was said that, although under section 10(2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Additional District Magistrate was invested with all the powers of a District Magistrate, he was not a District Magistrate in law, for he was below in rank. An order of detention made by him under rule 30(1)(b) of the Defence of India Rules was therefore, without authority. An examination of that case, however, shows that section 3(1) of the Defence of India Act gave power to the Central Government by a notification in the Official Gazette to make such rules as appeared to it necessary or expedient for securing the defence of India and several other matters. Section 3(2) provided for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion rules. It was held that the Deputy Commissioner alone was competent to deal with the petition and that he being a persona designata the petition could not be transferred to or disposed of by an Additional Deputy Commissioner. The ratio of the decision is that the Deputy Commissioner being a persona designata alone could perform the functions which the statute and the rules made thereunder had conferred on him. The order of the Governor declaring the ex-cadre posts of Additional Deputy Commissioners to be equivalent in status and responsibility to the cadre posts of Deputy Commissioners did not and indeed could not modify the statutory provisions according to which an election petition had to be presented to the Deputy Commissioner because an officer specially appointed to perform the functions of a Deputy Commissioner was expressly debarred from performing any function in respect of which the decision of the Deputy Commissioner was made final. In the present case, the statute itself having declared that an Additional Commissioner of Income-tax was an authority equal in rank to the Commissioner of Income-tax, could perform the same functions which the Commissioner alone was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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