9911796707
TMI Blog1944 (1) TMI 17X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... held that he was a partner and passed a decree against defendant-appellant and the assets of Jagannath Prasad. The defendant Suraj Narain has appealed and the sole point that has to be determined in this appeal is whether Suraj Narain, appellant, was a partner with Jagannath Prasad in the firm called Jagannath Prasad Sahu. On behalf of the plaintiffs copies of income-tax assessment orders for the years 1932-33, 1934-35 and 1935-36 have been filed in order to show that the defendant-appellant was a partner in the firm. It has been strenuously argued that these documents were confidential and privileged and could not be produced and admitted in evidence. Reliance has been placed on Section 54 (1) of the Income-tax Act which runs thus : ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... see or a stranger. With due deference to the learned Judge, I am of opinion that Section 54 of the Income-tax Act, has been strained too far. All that the section provided for is that the documents specified shall be treated as confidential and that no Court shall require a public servant to produce them. It cannot, by any stretch of language, be taken to mean that an assessee cannot himself disclose the contents of the documents referred to therein. This is exactly what was held in Emperor v. Osman Chotani. On behalf of the appellant another single Judge case, in Anwar Ali v. Tafozal Ahmed, has been cited which lays down that certified copies, obtained by private persons of Income-tax returns, are inadmissible as the issue of such copi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that is required by Section 65 is that it must be a true copy of the original and there must be a true copy of the original and there must be something to demote that it was so. In different departments a different set of rules are provided for that purpose. In the civil Courts, for instance, a mere endorsement that it was a true copy signed by an authorised officer is sufficient. Having that purpose in view, it seems to me that these copies can be called certified copies because they bear the seal of the Income-tax Department and bear an endorsement that they were duly copied and compared. It is not known as to who actually signed this endorsement but I think it may fairly be presumed that the endorsement was signed by the persons who were ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 20th of each month beginning from February to September with the exception of June and July. He has further admitted that several times he himself came of Mirzapur from his place Tanda in order to advance the money. It is also very significant that he did not file any suit for recovery of the money advanced and according to his own showing allowed at least ₹ 17,000 to be time-barred. This conduct so Suraj Narain clearly shows that he knew that this money could not be recovered as debt because it was advanced by him as a partner and, therefore, he made no attempt to recover it. There are two other documents throwing some light on the point in issue. One is a letter from Jagannath to Chapra Beopar Bardhani Sabha, Exhibit I, in which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng confidences of which they are recipients. They do not prevent others from betraying confidences of which they are recipients. They do not prevent others from giving information of which they are possessed. I do not think, however, that the copies produced in this case are relevant. The law requires that copies of this kind must be certified to be correct. The form of the certificate is doubtless of no importance but there must be certificate purporting to be signed by some responsible official. In this case there is nothing of the sort. There appears to be only the initials of the clerks who made and compared the copies. Even if the copiesare admissible as such, I do not see how the statements contained in them are relevant to the questi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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