9911796707
TMI Blog1994 (12) TMI 53X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... come for the year 1991, showing 49 persons as members of the association. The petitioner is one of such members having a five per cent. share. The assessment order which was passed was modified in appeal, as a result of which Rs. 33,67,369 was refundable. The said amount was withheld under section 241 of the Income tax Act, 1961, till March 31, 1994, or till the decision in second appeal by the Department before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, whichever is earlier. The second appeal was not decided by the Tribunal and therefore after expiry of the aforesaid period, i.e., March. 31, 1994, a request for refund of the said amount was made and accordingly the refund voucher for Rs. 33,67,369 was issued. Before issuing the advice, a letter wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... efund against the-liability ; he alone cannot have any objection and the amount should be directed to be refunded to the Excise Department. I have considered over the matter. As a matter of fact, after passing of the order under section 241 of the Income-tax Act, the present writ petition has become infructuous. The order passed by the Commissioner of Income-tax has not been challenged. The various other contentions which have been raised by learned counsel need not be decided in view of the provisions of section 241 of the Act which are as under : " 241. Power to withhold refund in certain cases. --- Where an order giving rise to a refund is the subject-matter of an appeal or further proceeding or where any other proceeding under this ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or grant of refund is likely to adversely affect the Revenue is duly established by the order passed by the Commissioner of Income-tax on July 26, 1994. Therefore, no direction for refund of the said amount to the petitioner or even to the Excise Department or any other person can be made in view of the approval given by the Commissioner under section 241. The only thing which could be observed here is that the Income-tax Department should have been prompt in passing the order before March 31, 1994. In a case where there is dispute between the members of the association of persons, even the further recovery by the Income-tax Department of its dues which may become payable on account of the order which may be passed by the Income-tax Appella ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... made above in this judgment. The submission that the power of withholding the refund cannot be exercised after the refund advice so issued has no substance. The bank who is making the refund is acting only as an agent of the Income-tax Department and beside the refund voucher which is submitted, advice has to be sent to the bank before making the payment. In a normal case, the issue of advice should be simultaneous with the issue of refund voucher but, till the advice is issued, the bank has no power to refund the amount. The Income-tax Department may withhold the advice if there are sufficient reasons. In such a case, it is proper that even the association is informed that the advice is not being sent to the bank for the reason to be me ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
