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TMI Blog1978 (11) TMI 9X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was contrary to the provisions of s. 119(2)(b) and that, at any rate, the Board had clearly acted in a manner contrary to the assurance given by it to the Public Accounts-Committee of Parliament, which assurance had been brought to the attention of the Board by the petitioners in para. 3 of their representation to the Board. In order to appreciate, the force of these contentions, the necessary facts may now be set out: We are concerned in this petition with the assessment year 1967-68, the corresponding previous year being the year ending on 30th June, 1966. The petitioners carry on business as technicians and technical advisers and earn fees for technical services for various projects. The petitioner-company had two directors, D. T. Zaveri and M. T. Shah. These two directors were given remuneration of Rs. 36,000 per annum in the aggregate. This was the same remuneration which the directors were being paid for the earlier years, viz., assessment years 1965-66 and 1966-67, and the same remuneration was given to them for the subsequent assessment year also, i.e., for 1968-69. For the assessment years 1965-66 and 1966-67, the ITO, who completed the assessments of the petitioner, di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... used inquiries to be made and it was then learnt that through inadvertence the appeal had not been filed. It is in these circumstances that the petitioners filed a revision application before the Commissioner on 14th November, 1970, which was an application under s. 264 of the I.T. Act, 1961, which was disposed of by the Commissioner by his order dated 14th May, 1,971. A copy of the revision application to the Commissioner and the two affidavits filed there in by the director of the petitioners are annexed, as Ex. D (collectively), to the petition. I have gone through the revision petition and the two affidavits and in my view sufficient cause had been made out by the petitioners for condonation of delay. ,However, I am not prepared to say that it was impossible for any judicial or quasi-judicial tribunal to hold to the contrary. Sufficiency of cause, good. reasons are not matters easy to categorise classify or adjudicate upon. Much depends upon the approach of the Tribunal. On some occasions, a harsh view is warranted, but on others a sympathetic one is required to be followed. However, it cannot be gainsaid that three is more than one permissible approach in the matter and the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... structions are already there. Regarding revision petitions, we advised the Commissioners of Income-tax to condone the delay even though the petitions are filed beyond the permissible limit of two years. We condone delay in hundreds of cases. We have instructed that it should be condoned freely ..........." The Committee in its report has also referred to a note furnished by the Finance Ministry, in which it is stated that " the Government is anxious to discharge its moral obligation, waiving legal impediments ". In the note, it has been further stated that" under the administrative instructions the Commissioners are required to refer to the Government cases of over-assessments occurring due to mistakes of law or fact relating to the 'computation of total income or tax there on which cannot normally be rectified due to the operation of the law of limitation. In all suitable cases the Government does waive the limitation and refunds are invariably allowed ". It is startling that after waxing eloquent on its deep desire to discharge its moral obligation, the Central Board, which is directly under Government control, has acted in the manner in which it has acted in the present case by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rances had been given by the Government to the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, to interview and to instruct the Commissioner as sought for by the assessees. The assurances given to the Public Accounts Committee suggest that there were already administrative instructions to the effect as indicated in the statement of the Finance Secretary and the note ; and if there were such administrative instructions, it is now well settled that such administrative instructions are required to be followed by the Commissioner. If one proceeds on the footing that there must have been such administrative instructions and that is the proper footing in view of the solemn assurances given to the Public Accounts Committee of the Houses of Parliament, which assurances would not have been given without a real factual basis thereto then the Commissioner's order becomes amenable to correction. The problem can be posed in this manner: In the absence of direct instructions from the Board, the Commissioner's order will merely appear to be harsh and liable to be corrected in appellate jurisdiction but not in the writ jurisdiction of the High Court. Proceeding upon the footing that the Board must have i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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