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TMI Blog2008 (7) TMI 241X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the name and style of M/s. Goyal Payal Company. He is also regularly assessed to income-tax on Permanent Account No. ADWPA1767D by the Income-tax Officer, Ward 3(2), Mathura, and registered with the Trading Tax Authorities of Uttar Pradesh on TIN No. 09427100479. On August 14, 2007, the police of Lordganj Police Station, during routine checking, found the petitioner in Hotel Shyam, Jabalpur (M.P.), in possession of raw silver and silver ornaments weighing 118.426 kg. and cash amounting to Rs. 3,98,450. The police, on suspicion that the silver and cash had nexus with some crime such as theft, etc., seized the same and informed the Income-tax Department of the seizure. Respondent No. 1, on receiving the information from police, issued the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o. 1 on the ground that the conditions precedent for the exercise of the powers under section 132A(1) of the Act were not satisfied. 3. On September 14, 2007, this court passed an interim Order directing the parties to maintain status quo regarding the seized assets. The assets are, therefore, still lying in the judicial custody of Magistrate. 4. The respondents, in their return, have stated that warrant of requisition was issued only after the conditions precedent for its issuance were satisfied and even produced the concerned record for perusal by this court to justify the action of issuance of warrant. 5. The relevant extract of section 132A of the Act is as follows: "132A. Powers to requisition books of account, etc. - (1) Where the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... have been disclosed for the purpose of the Act. 7. In the case of L. R. Gupta v. Union of India [1992] 101 CTR 179; [1992]194 ITR 32 (Delhi), the Delhi High Court held that the expression "information" must be something more than a mere rumour or a gossip or a hunch and there must exist some material on the file which can be regarded as information on the basis of which the authorizing officer can have reason to believe that action under section 132 is called for any of the reasons mentioned in clause (a), (b) or (c). It further held that the words "reason to believe" must be tangible in law and if the information or the reason has no nexus with the belief or there is no material or tangible information for the formation of the belief, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... section 132A of the Income-tax Act. DIT (Inv), Bhopal, is, therefore, requested to kindly consider issuance of warrants of requisition under section 132A to be served on Thana Incharge Lord Ganj, Jabalpur, in respect of the assets seized from Shri Krishna Gopal, S/o Shri Sitaram Agarwal. 10. The matter was then put up before respondent No. 1 on August 24, 2007, who recorded his satisfaction under section 132A as under : "I have gone through the notes on pre-page above. The assets (cash and silver) have been seized by the police. The person carrying them has given more than one explanation before the police without any supporting evidence. In fact he first stated to be a resident of one place and then another. He also first stated that he ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . Seth Brothers [1969] 74 ITR 836 the Supreme Court has held that the power exercised by the Commissioner under section 132 is not a judicial or quasi-judicial power and that the court cannot substitute its own opinion for that of the Commissioner. Therefore, where the Commissioner entertains the requisite belief and for reasons recorded by him authorizes a designated officer to enter and search premises for cash and jewellery and books of account and documents and the power is exercised bona fide, any error of judgment on the part of the Commissioner or the authorized officer will not vitiate the exercise of the power. This decision was later also followed by a Division Bench of this court in Naraindas v. CIT [1984]148 ITR 567 (MP). 14. F ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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