2000 (2) TMI 49

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..... dly, for the year 1991-92, the appellant had not maintained books of account. A show-cause notice under section 271A read with section 273B of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (for short, "the Act"), was issued to him requiring him to explain as to why the penalty be not levied for not complying with the provisions of section 44AA read with rule 6F(1) of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 (for short, "the Rules"). The appellant filed his reply to the show-cause notice stating therein that because of the proviso to rule 6F(1) he was not required to maintain the books of account for the assessment year 1991-92 and, therefore, no penalty was leviable. The Income-tax Officer did not accept the contention raised by the appellant and imposed a penalty of Rs. .....

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..... shall be kept and maintained. Rule 6F(1) was inserted in the rules by the Income-tax (Ninth Amendment) Rules, 1981, with effect from November 21, 1981. Provisos (a) and (b) to rule 6F(1) were inserted by the Income-tax (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 1983, with effect from February 28, 1983. The relevant portion of rule 6F(1) is extracted below : "6F. (1) Every person carrying on legal, medical, engineering or architectural profession or the profession of accountancy or technical consultancy or interior decoration or authorised representative or film artist shall keep and maintain the books of account and other documents specified in sub-rule (2) : Provided that nothing in this sub-rule shall apply in relation to any previous year --- (a) .....

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..... f the three years immediately preceding the previous year. The learned single judge has taken the view that if the gross income exceeds Rs. 60,000 in any one of the three years immediately preceding the previous year, then the assessee is required to maintain books of account. With respect we would not subscribe to the view taken by the single judge. A plain reading of the proviso to sub-rule (1) is that a person is not required to maintain books of account if the total gross receipts from the profession did not exceed Rs. 60,000 in any one of the three years immediately preceding the previous year and not vice versa. The rule would have read otherwise had that been the intention. The rule then would have been that if the income exceeds Rs. .....

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