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TMI Blog1994 (4) TMI 38X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ncome chargeable to tax for the assessed period had escaped assessment within the meaning of section 147 of the Act and demanding delivery of the return in the prescribed form within 30 days from the date of service of this notice. The petitioners replied on March 13, 1993 (annexure "C"), indicating that the return already filed be treated as the return in response to this notice. On March 15, 1993, the petitioners demanded, vide annexure "D", that the reasons recorded for proceedings under section 148 of the Act be communicated. Respondent No. 2 declined to do so and took the stand in reply dated November 10, 1993 (annexure "B"), that there was no provision under the Act for communicating the reasons for reopening an assessment. The petiti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of this petition. These are to a large extent irrelevant and inadequate. Irrelevance and irrationality are recognised grounds of judicial review and affect the very jurisdiction of the authority. The notice is thus without jurisdictional competence and deserves to be quashed. Counsel for the respondents has dubbed both the grounds meritless and prayed for dismissal of the petition on the fulcrum of remedy available under the Act itself. It is contended that communication or disclosure is not essential and that existence is not disputed. Shri Bagadia has placed reliance on Thanthi Trust v. ITO [1973] 91 ITR 261 (Mad) ; British Electrical and Pumps P. Ltd. v. ITO [1978] 113 ITR 143 (Cal) and K. M. Bansal v. CIT [1992] 195 ITR 247 (All) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly on obtaining the reasons. It cannot be gainsaid that the satisfaction of the conditions, being a sine qua non, can be judged only on the basis of the reasons. Refusal is thus arbitrary and prejudicial. However, for this lapse this point now pales into insignificance because the reasons have since been furnished. As such, the debate centred round the necessity of declaration of the position of law. In his dissenting judgment in Breen v. Amalgamated Engineering Union [1971] 2 QB 175 (CA), Lord Denning, M. R. has observed that (at page 191) : " The giving of reasons is one of the fundamentals of good administration." And in Alexander Machinery (Dudley) Ltd. v. Crabtree [1974] ICR 120, Sir John Donaldson, as President of the National I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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