1992 (7) TMI 354

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..... nment Advocate, the assessee has chosen to remain absent in spite of having been served with notice of the date of hearing, followed by S. P. C. issued to him for a fixed date of appearance. Indeed, the office reports, that the assessee has not taken steps for preparation of the paper-books which are required to be prepared as per rules so as to enable hearing of the reference before the Division Bench. It is clear that the assessee is in default duo. He has not only defaulted in appearance; he has also defaulted in taking steps for preparation of the paper-books. Needless to say, the reference being at the instance of the assessee, it was for him to have taken steps for preparation of the paper-books. Section 44(5) of the Act provides : .....

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..... The High Court upon the hearing of any such case" etc. Where the party, who has caused the reference to be made and who is in the position of a plaintiff, fails to appear, no hearing of the case can take place and in my view since the preliminary condition of the Sub-section is not satisfied in such a case, the consequent obligation of deciding the questions of law and delivering a judgment does not also arise. It appears to me, therefore, that is not required of us that we should answer the question referred to us in this reference at all since the assessees are not appearing before us. We therefore, decline to answer the question." A Division Bench of this Court in Gajadhar Prasad Nathu Lal v. Commissioner of Wealth-Tax, M.P. .....

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..... therefore, appear at the first blush that when a question of law is referred by the Tribunal to the High Court, the High Court should answer such question and give its finding thereon and return the answer to the Tribunal so as to enable the Tribunal not only to dispose of the particular case in which the reference was made in accordance with the judgment of the High Court but also to have a decision which is binding on it in future cases on the question of law decided by the High Court. It, however, appears to us that it is not necessary for this High Court to decide the questions of law referred to it in all references academically, and to no practical effect. This particular reference has been made because the applicant-assessees were .....

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