9911796707
TMI Blog1998 (10) TMI 41X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1961. According to the assessee, it had fully disclosed all the material facts necessary at the time the original assessments were made and, therefore, the notices issued beyond the period of four years from the end of the relevant assessment years were wholly illegal. Though the notices do not set out the reasons, in the counter-affidavit of the Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax, Coimbatore, at paragraph 5, the reasons for the issuance of those notices have been set out as under : ".... It has been found during the course of the assessment proceedings for the assessment year 1989-90, that the material evidence relevant for the allowability of deduction under section 80-I of the Act during the assessment year 1983-84 was neither produc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was established was issued on January 22, 1977 ; that the assessee was engaged in the manufacture of blast hold and water well drilling rigs ; that the assessee-company in the assessment year 1983-84 constructed a new production bay with a dimension larger than the existing one and capable of taking up manufacture of 10" sized drills which were till that point of time being imported that the new bay was commissioned in 1984, when commercial production began in the newly constructed bay and that new machineries have been installed at a total cost of Rs. 18.76 lakhs. In the assessment orders for the years for which notices have been issued under section 148 of the Act, there is no indication that any material was produced before the Assess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rial facts fully and truly for assessment for the assessment year. It was submitted that the proceedings had been initiated in all these cases only in June, 1992, long after the expiry of four years from the end of the relevant assessment year. Counsel for the Revenue relied upon the assessment order for the assessment year 1989-90 as well as the contents of the counter affidavit. Counsel further asserted that notwithstanding the proviso to section 147 of the Act, notice could be issued under section 148 of the Act, if it is permissible to do so in terms of any of the clauses of section 149 of the Act and that, therefore, it was not necessary for a finding that there had been failure on the part of the assessee to fully and truly disclos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ee assessment years. In the case of ITO v. Lakhmani Mewal Das [1976] 103 ITR 437, the Supreme Court observed in the context of section 148 of the Act that : "We may add that the duty which is cast upon the assessee is to make a true and full disclosure of the primary facts at the time of the original assessment. Production before the Income-tax Officer of the account books or other evidence from which material evidence could with due diligence have been discovered by the Income-tax Officer will not necessarily amount to disclosure contemplated by law." It is thus clear that the assessee cannot take shelter under the plea that the return did not require a particular fact to be set out and, therefore, the failure to disclose the facts wil ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ounsel for the assessee relied on a Division Bench judgment of the Gujarat High Court in Arvind Boards and Paper Products Ltd. v. M. T. Keshruwala, ITO [1980] 124 ITR 626, in support of his submission that the assessee had disclosed all the facts and all that the Assessing Officer had now done is to change his opinion thereon. The decision relied upon turned on the special facts in that case. The court therein had found that there was no warrant for holding that the assessee therein had failed to disclose the relevant material facts. The Supreme Court in A. L. A. Firm v. CIT [1991] 189 ITR 285, elaborately considered the circumstances in which assessments can be reopened. The apex court set out four situations in which notices under secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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