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TMI Blog1998 (11) TMI 8X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion 132A of the Act and includes in the previous year in which such search was conducted or requisition made the period up to the date of the commencement of such search or, as the case may be, the date of such requisition. Undisclosed income is defined in section 158B(b), inter alia, to be the income which has not been or would not have been disclosed for the purposes of the Act. Section 158BA provides that the special procedure set out in Chapter XIV-B shall be adopted in search cases covered by the provision "notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act." The Explanation to that provision states that the assessment made under this Chapter will be in addition to the regular assessment in respect of each previo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e has expired but no return of income has been filed as nil, as provided in clause (c) of sub-section (1) of section 158BB. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that this provision is unconstitutional as it has the effect of depriving an honest assessee the several deductions allowable under other provisions of the Act even in cases where an assessee has, by relying on section 139(4), filed a return of income after the due date specified in section 139(1), but before the expiry of the period specified in section 139(4). Section 139(4) enables a person who has not filed a return within the time allowed under section 139(1) or, under a notice issued under section 142(1) to furnish the return for any previous year at any time before ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... essions it may choose to deny to those who have violated the law and such violations have been established by reason of the action taken by the authorities. It is in that background and with the object of laying down a special procedure for the assessment of the assessees who fail to comply with the law by not disclosing in full their taxable income and by not paying the taxes properly due from them that Chapter XIV-B consisting of sections 158B to 158BH was inserted in the Income-tax Act by the Finance Act, 1995, with effect from July 1, 1995. The assumption made in the scheme of the Act that a person who comes forward with the return or with further information after a search, does so only on account of the detection already effected un ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... earch cases where the time for filing the return under section 139(1) has not expired, income disclosed in the books of account is not treated as undisclosed income. All that is denied to the assessee in search cases is the opportunity to file a return after the period specified in section 139(1) and to claim that the income that he would have disclosed in a belated return is not to be regarded as undisclosed income. The reason for denying such opportunity in search cases is obvious. After having suffered a search, the assessee is not to be enabled to escape the consequences of his failure to disclose all his income by filing a return after the search and after the expiry of the time prescribed under section 139(1) and by disclosing therein ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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