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TMI Blog2004 (1) TMI 59X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (s) : D. V. SHYLENDRA KUMAR. JUDGMENT D.V. SHYLENDRA KUMAR J.-The petitioner, an assessee under the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("the Act" for short), sought to avail of the benefits of the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme, 1998 ("the Scheme" for short), as formulated by the Finance (No. 2) Act of 1998. The brief facts leading to the filing of the above petition which are not in dispute are that the assessee had invoked the provisions of the Scheme; that determination of the amount payable under section 88 of the Scheme had been made and communicated to the assessee and that the assessee paid the amount six days beyond the permitted period of thirty days as is required under sub-section (2) of section 90 of the Scheme. The Commissioner of Income- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... esignated authority shall thereupon issue the certificate to the declarant." 1t is the submission of Sri Javali, learned counsel for petitioner, that the word "shall" should be interpreted as "may" and a little leeway should be required to be allowed to the provisions in the matter of payment of the sum determined by the designated authority within thirty days and the delay of six days in making that payment was a justifiable delay according to the petitioner; that the petitioner had a valid and convincing explanation for the delay and having regard to the objects of the Scheme that it is meant to provide succour to the assessees and expedite the collection of revenue to the State, such an interpretation should be given to the provisions ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... unjab and Haryana High Court was again followed by another learned single judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Sardar Machhi Singh v. CIT [2000] 245 ITR 58 in a case arising under the very Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme, 1998. That decision of the learned single judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court having been rendered in favour of the assessee, and the Revenue having carried the matter to the Supreme Court by way of a special leave petition and having failed in securing special leave, was a matter which weighed heavily with the learned judges constituting the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court who rendered decision in Vijay Omprakash Bansal's case [2002] 257 ITR 649 and learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in view of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ciates v. Union of India [2003] 261 ITR 646, following the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in Hemalatha Gargya v. CIT [2003] 259 ITR 1 has taken the view that the provisions of the Scheme have to be strictly viewed and there is no scope for any liberal interpretation of the scheme far extending the time-limit stipulated under the Scheme itself. The decision of the Supreme Court in Hemalatha Gargya v. CIT [2003] 259 ITR 1 is directly on the point and the Supreme Court has positively held that there should be strict compliance with the provisions of the Scheme and there cannot be any relaxation by the courts for the purpose of availing of the benefit of the Scheme in favour of the assessee. The word "shall" also has been noticed and it ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , learned counsel for the petitioner, falls to the ground when the ratio of these decisions is applied to the facts of the present case and in the light of such ratio. The Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme is a special scheme enacted by Parliament. It seeks to give some special concessions. Time stipulations are provided for in the Scheme itself. In fact there is no ambiguity in the language and the words used in the provisions of section 90 and relaxing any of the requirements purporting to be by way of interpretation, only amounts to rewriting the provisions of the Scheme. It is to be noticed that these are all various schemes promulgated for short periods and will be in operation for that duration only. Such Schemes should be strictly interpre ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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