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TMI Blog1972 (10) TMI 18X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the police, the Inspector arrested him and produced him before the Second Presidency Magistrate, Madras, along with the amount seized. Mohammed Koya was remanded to custody and released on bail subsequently. The Inspector, Railway Police, Madras Central, found on investigation that no cognizable offence has been made out against Mohammed Koya, and dropped the proceedings after intimating the income-tax department. The income-tax department found, on investigation, that the amount of rupees one lakh represented the income of Mohammed Koya which he had failed to disclose to the income-tax department. The Commissioner of Income-tax, Madras, Kerala and Bombay, authorised the V-Income-tax Officer, Madras, to take possession of the amount under ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e resorted to this hazardous method of transporting the money has naturally enough aroused the suspicion of the income-tax department. Further, Mohammed Koya claims to be only a hawker doing business in Bombay Railway Station platform, and the income-tax department is entitled to wonder if Mohammed Kunhi could have reposed confidence in this platform pedlar and entrusted him with rupees one lakh as a carrier. If in these circumstances and in consequence of information, which he says he had in his possession, the Commissioner of Income-tax authorised the Income-tax Officer to seize the amount, the authorisation cannot be attacked in this court on the ground that there is no basis for his reason to believe that the money represented either wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has not been disclosed for the purposes of the Indian Income-tax Act. Learned counsel for Mohammed Kunhi, the revision petitioner, advanced three grounds upon which he attacked the correctness of the order of the court below dismissing the petition of Mohammed Kunhi and directing payment of the amount in court deposit to the income-tax department: The first ground is that inasmuch as the Income-tax Officer has not seized the amount in court deposit under section 132 of the Income-tax Act, he cannot be regarded as a person entitled to the possession of the amount within the meaning of section 523, Criminal Procedure Code. I am unable to agree. If the Income-tax Officer is clothed by the statute with the power to seize the amount in court d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ch has not been disclosed for the purposes of the Indian Income-tax Act, and that such a condition precedent has not been fulfilled in this case. I am unable to accept this contention either. I have already referred to the peculiar circumstances under which Mohammed Koya was found in possession of the amount of rupees one lakh. It is the case of the income-tax authorities that they have scrutinised the accounts of Mohammed Kunhi as well as the accounts of Kallatre Textorium, Mangalore, and come to the conclusion that the theory of entrustment is false and has been conceived belatedly and that the money really belongs to Mohammed Koya and represents his undisclosed income. I am not concerned with the question whether the finding of the incom ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r other valuable article or thing found as a result of such search;...." The argument is that as the discovery of money in court deposit is not claimed to be the result of search of any building or place referred to in clause (iii) of sub-section (1) of section 132 of the Act, the question of applying the provisions of clause (iii) of section 132(1) cannot arise, This argument, it is true, has found favour with two learned judges, one of the Orissa High Court (K. Ahmad C.J.) in Union of India v. Hadibandhu Das and the other of the Kerala High Court (K. Baskaran J.) in Crl. Revision Petition No. 306/72. With great respect to the two learned judges, I find myself unable to frustrate the legislative intent by putting too narrow a construction ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the result of such a search as is contemplated in clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-section (1) of section 132 of the Act is to indulge in a self-defeating piece of sophistry. After all, what is the meaning of the word "search" ? The Concise Oxford Dictionary says that it means "look for" or "seek out". What the Income-tax Officer has done in this case is to enter the building of the court of the Second Presidency Magistrate and to look for or seek out the amount kept in court custody and ask that it may be paid over to him, because it represents wholly or partly undisclosed income of Mohammed Koya. Be it noted that the section does not say that the Income-tax Officer can enter and search only the building of the person who had failed to disclose ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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