1957 (9) TMI 73

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... he ground that, under the rules the application must be signed by the applicant and that the agent is not empowered to sign on behalf of the principal. The Tribunal was also inclined to hold that the agent, who signed the application, was not duly authorised by the assessee to take proceedings before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal. Rule 22-A of the Rules framed under the Indian Income-tax Act governs the situation. It reads: "An application under sub-section (1) of section 66 requiring the Tribunal to refer to the High Court any question of law shall be in the following form:-" The said form, after giving the particulars necessary to be filled up by the applicant, indicates that it should be signed in the following manner: .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... te Tribunal Rules, 1946, defines "authorised representative" as meaning "in relation to an assessee, a person duly authorised by the assessee under section 61 to attend before the Tribunal." The material portion of section 61(1) referred to in the rule says: "Any assessee,...........may attend by a person authorised by him in writing in this behalf, being a relative of or a person regularly employed by the assessee, or a lawyer or accountant or Income-tax practitioner, and not being disqualified by or under sub-section (3)." It is said that Gunnavadhanulu is the clerk of the assessee and, therefore, he satisfies the second qualification laid down in the section. The only question, therefore, is whether he is .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

..... t, we would have held, if the context permitted, that the assessee used the word in a more comprehensive sense than that word legally conveys. But the assessee in the power of attorney makes a distinction between courts and other authorities and, in the operative portion, he authorises separately the attorney to represent him in courts and to sign the necessary vakalats before the authorities. It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that the assessee, when he used the word "courts" used it in its ordinary sense rather than in a loose way. That apart, he also qualified the word "court" by confining them only to civil, criminal and revenue courts. In either ordinary parlance or legal sense, the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal .....

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X

→ Full Text of the Document

X X   X X   Extracts   X X   X X