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TMI Blog1993 (4) TMI 50X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sed by the said court. The impugned complaint was instituted under the provisions of sections 276C and 277 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 ("the Act", in brief), with respect to the assessment year 1982-83, financial year 1981-82, on the allegations that the petitioner-firm had concealed an income of Rs. 3,00,000 while filing its return. The complaint is dated October 9, 1985, and it has been filed under the orders of the Commissioner of Income-tax (Central), Ludhiana. The petitioners claim that they have filed a petition before the Income-tax Settlement Commission, New Delhi, which had conveyed its order dated February 19, 1988, and according to its directions, the proceedings regarding the assessment years 1982-83, 1983-84 and 1984-85, were ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r the Act in relation to a case. Section 245H empowers the Settlement Commission to grant immunity from prosecution and penalty for any offence under the Act ; the Indian Penal Code or under any Central Act. It was only the Commission which could order prosecution and if any prosecution had been launched after the application was moved before the Commission by the petitioner, these proceedings are liable to be quashed and, at any rate, liable to be stayed. The impugned complaint, in the present case, was instituted at time when the Settlement Commission had yet not decided as to whether the application was to be proceeded with or not. Under section 245D, the Settlement Commission, on receipt of an application under section 245C, has to ca ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... not passed any orders staying the proceedings in the criminal complaint. In the absence of such an order, the Magistrate was duty-bound to try and decide the case in accordance with law. " In Ashvin Kumar Vadilal Patel v. S. Rajguru [1987] 165 ITR 583, R.A.Mehta J., of the Gujarat High Court observed that until immunity is granted by the Settlement Commission, criminal proceedings need not be stayed. In Criminal Miscellaneous No. 6503/(M) of 1986 (R. I. Chadha v. ITO[1987] 168 ITR 591) decided by this court on May 12, 1987, on which reliance has been placed, I. S. Tiwana J., was dealing with a different situation. Therein, a complaint had been filed, but subsequent to the passing of the order by the Commission allowing the application t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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