9911796707
TMI Blog1972 (5) TMI 14X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1961 (hereinafter called " the Act "), as it is alleged that the assessee's income chargeable to tax for the assessment year 1954-55 had escaped assessment within the meaning of section 147 of the Act. It is stated in the notice that necessary satisfaction of the Commissioner of Income-tax, Assam, Tripura Manipur, was obtained. The petitioner No. 1 is a private limited company with its principal place of business at Dibrugarh (hereinafter referred to as " the assessee " and the petitioner No. 2 is the director of the said company. On 10th May, 1963, and again on 18th May, 1963, the assessee objected to the issue of the notice on various grounds relating to the jurisdiction of the officer. It appears that the Income-tax Officer answer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iven by the officer as correct. It will not matter now if during the enquiry the assessee can establish that the grounds given by the officer are wrong or incorrect. The Income-tax Officer in his affidavit stated, inter alia, as follows : " The Income-tax Officer had reason to believe that income chargeable to tax had escaped assessment by reason of the failure of the assessee to disclose fully and truly all the material facts necessary for its assessment for the assessment year 1954-55, as stated below : (a) After the completion of the regular assessment for the year 1954-55 and in the course of the assessment proceedings for the subsequent years, information came into possession of the Income-tax Officer upon enquiry that the purchase ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... discovery of facts in the course of subsequent enquiry, there is an inferential non-disclosure in the assessee's accounts in the opinion of the Income-tax Officer. " This was, therefore, a case of change of opinion of the officer concerned which does not give the officer the necessary jurisdiction to initiate proceedings under section 147 of the Act. This case is of no assistance to the learned counsel. We are satisfied in this case that from the grounds furnished by the department in initiation of proceedings, it is clear that it is a case which comes under section 147(a) of the Act, viz., that according to the opinion of the officer, there is reason to believe that income had escaped assessment by reason of the failure on the part of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uly disclosing all material facts necessary for his assessment. Mr. Chaudhuri also relied upon another Division Bench decision of this court in Seth Kirorimal Adwani v. Income-tax Officer. Even this case is of no assistance to Mr. Chaudhuri as we find a very significant observation in that decision to the following effect : " Without much repetition we may say that the Income-tax Officer had in his mind the provisions of section 147(b), as otherwise he would have specifically stated in his affidavit-in-opposition that the petitioner was out to dodge the tax authorities by making false and frivolous statements in the matter of interest which he had deposited with the hundi bankers. Such a statement is absolutely absent in the affidavit-i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m the report submitted by the Income-tax Officer to the Commissioner, it is clear that he could not have had reasons to believe that by reason of the assessee's omission to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for his assessment for the accounting year in question, income chargeable to tax has escaped assessment for that year ; .... We are not satisfied that the Income-tax Officer had any material before him which could satisfy the requirements of either clause (a) or clause (b) of section 147. Therefore, he could not have issued a notice under section 148. " This is not the same position in the present case where we clearly find the reasons given in the report and which according to us can legitimately furnish the basis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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