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TMI Blog1939 (6) TMI 11X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... plaintiffs alleged that the defendant was a partner in the firm of Kali Krishna Pramanick, his share being six annas, the remaining ten annas being the property of the plaintiffs. On this basis they sued for partnership accounts. In his written statement, the defendant denied that he was a servant of the plaintiffs, and alleged that he was a partner in the firm of Kali Krishna Pramanick, his shares in the partnership being eight annas while the remaining eight annas belonged to the plaintiffs jointly. When the suit was heard the plaintiffs abandoned the contention that the defendant was an employee of the firm, and accordingly the main issue between the parties was whether the defendant owned eight annas share in the firm or a six annas sha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he year of assessment 1934-35 the plaintiffs are shown as owning eight annas and the defendant as owning the remaining eight annas. I should add that the firm is an unregistered firm. 3. The plaintiffs seek to exclude these certified copies of the assessment orders on the ground that they fall within the scope of Section 54, Income-tax1 Act, of 1922. There is no doubt that the original assessment orders are within the scope of the Section, which enacts that all particulars contained (inter alia) in any record of any assessment proceeding shall be treated as confidential, and that notwithstanding anything contained in the Evidence Act, no Court shall, save as provided by the Income-tax Act, be entitled to require any public servant to produ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... idential is a privilege which an assessee may waive if he thinks fit to do so. However, it would be a startling thing if a joint assessee were to be permitted to use the copy of such an order to the detriment of his co-assessee in contentious proceedings between them. If a person who has been assessed to income-tax can object to the materials in the possession of the Income-tax Department being disclosed, it is surely a matter of indifference whether the person who desires to make them public is a co-assessee or a stranger. 5. The learned Special Referee has referred to three cases, two decided by the Rangoon High Court, and one decided by the Bombay High Court in which certified copies of assessment orders have been held to be inadmissibl ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... payment of the legal fee therefor together with a certificate of its correctness. There is no provision under the Income-tax Act which gives an asses-see a right to inspect the records of the Income-tax Department. It is true that under the instructions in the Manual he can obtain a copy of the assessment order although nothing is said as to such copy being certified. As the Special Referee himself points out the Departmental instructions in the Income-tax Manual have of themselves no statutory authority and even assuming this particular instruction to be legally unobjectionable it does not purport to give the assessee a right to inspect the original assessment order and compare with the copy. Therefore, the assessment order does not, in m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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