9911796707
TMI Blog1989 (11) TMI 35X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Income-tax Officer, Ward-A of Hazaribagh, filed a complaint petition before the learned court below on March 28, 1985, to the effect that, for the assessment year 1980-81, a firm commonly known as Messrs. Patwari Motors Stores of which the petitioners are partners, had furnished a return showing the income of the firm wrongly. It is further alleged that the said return was filed under the declaration and verification made by one Sri Rameshwar Prasad Agarwal on March 24, 1981, at Hazaribagh. It was further alleged that a search was conducted under section 132 of the Income-tax Act in the business premises of the said firm in which several incriminating documents were found. For the purpose of disposal of this case, it is not necessa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Learned counsel, in this connection, has relied upon a decision of the Supreme Court in Gujarat Travancore Agency v. CIT [1989] 177 ITR 455. Learned counsel, lastly, submitted that, in any event, by reason of notification which has been issued in this regard by the State of Bihar, all the cases under the Income-tax Act are to be tried by a Special Magistrate at Muzaffarpur and in this view of the matter, the learned court below had no jurisdiction to take cognizance of the offence alleged as against the petitioners. Mr. K. K. Jhunjhunwala, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Income-tax Department, on the other hand, submitted that the question whether the petitioners are sleeping partners or not, can be judged only upon a perusal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Income-tax Act being absolutely clear, the existence or absence of mens rea must be held to be a question of fact which can only be decided at the time of trial of the case. So far as the third contention raised by Mr. Gadodia is concerned, Mr. Jhunjhunwala, in reply, submitted that even in such a case, the order taking cognizance will not be vitiated but merely the case has to be transferred from that court to the Court of the Special Judge, Muzaffarpur. In view of the order proposed to be passed by me, it is not necessary to deal with the rival contentions of the parties. From the order dated August 5, 1987, it appears that an application was filed on behalf of the petitioners to discharge them. The learned court below refused t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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