9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (12) TMI 35X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... short ground that no notice of demand of any amount of tax for any of the years noted above was served on him in terms of s. 156 of the I.T. Act and in the absence of the same, he cannot be styled as an " assessee in default " within the meaning of s. 220(4) of the Act. As opposed to this, the stand of the respondent authorities is that the petitioner was duly served with all the demand notices for the above-noted years and he having defaulted in the payment of tax due, the course adopted by the authorities for the recovery of the same cannot possibly be assailed. As per these authorities, the following are the details of the method and manner in which the petitioner was served with the demand notices. The demand notice along with the as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted March 18, 1970. Since the acknowledgment slip was not received back, it is taken to have been delivered to the addressee, i.e., the petitioner. Still later, the demand notice for this year was sent along with the demand notice for the assessment years 1966-67 and 1967-68 in single cover, vide office despatch register No. 1146 to the petitioner's Chandigarh address and the same was duly received and acknowledged by somebody on that address on March 20, 1970, and the acknowledgment slip is available on the records of the case for the assessment year 1967-68. Similarly, the penalty orders passed under ss. 271(1)(a) and 273 on June 16, 1971, were despatched to the petitioner, vide No. 514 and are presumed to have been delivered to him. Fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... b) for sum of Rs. 10,000 dated June 29, 1971, was despatched to the petitioner, vide No. 514 and is presumed to have been duly delivered to him. For the assessment year 1967-68, the demand notice for Rs. 17,846 was sent through registered post, vide despatch No. 1146 dated March 18, 1970. A separate register cover containing demand notices for the assessment years 1962-63, 1966-67 and 1967-68 was also despatched to the petitioner to his Chandigarh address and it was duly received by somebody on his behalf on March 20, 1970. Assessment order dated March 31, 1970, for the assessment year 1968-69 was sent along with the demand notice, vide registered acknowledgment due post on despatch No. 1281 dated April 30, 1970, and is presumed to have ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 114 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, and s. 27 of the General Clauses Act ( 10 of 1897), a notice is deemed to have been served on the addressee if it has been sent through pre-paid registered post or letter. The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner, however, is that the presumption that can be raised against the petitioner about the due service of the notices on him is essentially rebuttable and the moment he has averred and sworn an affidavit along with this petition that he actually never received the above said notices, the said presumption stands rebutted and the burden shifts to the departmental authorities to prove and establish that the petitioner was duly served with those notices. Having given my thoughtful consid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... espondent authorities that in response to all the registered notices issued to him under s. 143 of the Act during the course of assessment of tax of the various years, he always responded to the same. Thirdly, I see a deliberate attempt on the part of the petitioner to avoid payment of tax on one pretext or the other. In the normal course, lie being an assessee and a person running a well established concern as owner or proprietor, is supposed to be in touch with his tax matters. In the given circumstances of this case, it is difficult to accept his feigned ignorance of those matters for eight long years. As per the averments in the petition itself, it was in January, 1979, that he came to know that certain demands had been raised against h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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