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TMI Blog1979 (7) TMI 30X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... yment of tax thereon by the creditors would, in law, justify the deletion of the amount of Rs. 20,500 and the interest of Rs. 1,140 from the assessment of the assessee who was not the declarant ? " The material facts giving rise to this reference briefly are as follows : The assessee, Samrathmal Santoshchand, is a HUF and the assessment year in question is 1967-68. During the course of assessment proceedings, the ITO found credits in the names of the following parties in the books of the assessee: Name of the party Rs. 1. Smt. Chandrakantibai w/o Shri Samrathmal 5,000 2. Ku. Vimal Kumari (minor unmarried daughter of Samrathmal) 3,500 3. Ku. Nirmala Kumari (minor daughter of Samrathmal) 3,500 4. Ku. Chhotibai (minor unmarried d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... but the appeal was dismissed. Hence, at the instance of the department, the Tribunal has referred the aforesaid question of law to this court for its opinion. Now, the question referred to us for our consideration falls within a narrow compass. That question in effect is, whether the provisions of s. 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act of 1965, hereinafter referred to as "the Act ", can be construed as conferring any benefit, concession or immunity on any person other than the person making the declaration under the provisions of the Act. It may be mentioned that to avoid any room for doubt, the Legislature has introduced s. 18 in the Voluntary Disclosure of Income and Wealth Act, 1976 (Act No. 8 of 1976), which specifically provides that save ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ation of the claim of the declarant. If a person made a declaration, the Commissioner was under obligation to assess the same to tax. The only thing which was to be decided by the Commissioner was that the amount was disclosed voluntarily and had not already been detected by the department. The declaration and assessment under the Finance (No. 2) Act of 1965 did not involve any investigation into the correctness of the declaration or any determination that the amount belonged to the declarant. " The learned judges further observed : " The Finance (No. 2) Act of 1965 only permitted to bring forth for taxation the undisclosed income by persons to whom it belonged, and neither intended nor had the effect of converting the income belonging ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ither under the Act of 1922 nor under the Act of 1961 a person is required to submit a return with regard to the income which is either not earned or not deemed to have been earned by him. It, therefore, follows that even the declarations under sub-section (2) of section 24 must relate to the income actually earned by him. If, therefore, a person makes a false declaration with regard to the income not earned by him, it is difficult to comprehend how the department can be prevented from proceeding against the person to whom the income actually belonged and during the course of whose assessment that income has escaped." Shri Goyal, learned counsel for the assessee, referred to a decision, Rattan Lal v. ITO [1975] 98 ITR 681 (Delhi). That de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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