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TMI Blog1976 (11) TMI 17X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ny registered under the Companies Act and it possesses a tea estate known as Nilmoni Tea Estate in the district of Dibrugarh. In the said tea estate, tea is manufactured for sale in places within the State of Assam as well as in places outside the State of Assam. The petitioner is regularly assessed to income-tax under the Income-tax Act and also to agricultural income-tax under the Assam Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1939, hereinafter referred to as " the Act ". For the assessment year 1960-61, the assessee-petitioner submitted a return showing its total agricultural income from cultivation, manufacture and sale of tea at Rs. 1,26,628.80. Along with the said return the petitioner forwarded to the Agricultural Income-tax Officer a statemen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... August 3, 1967, under section 23 of the Act was issued to the petitioner for payment of the tax assessed. The Agricultural Income-tax Officer thereafter filed a certificate No. S-30/ 13205 dated August 20, 1969, in the office of the Collector, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, under sections 4 and 6 of the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act for recovery of a sum of Rs. 57,045.10 including the court-fees from the petitioner. On the basis of the said certificate dated August 20, 1969, the Certificate Officer (Bakijai officer), Dibrugarh, started a Bakijai case, being Bakijai case No. DRBJ-12/7/69-70/2-R, and issued a notice dated August 25, 1969, under section 7 of the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, asking the petitioner to pay a sum of Rs. 57,045 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hat being the position, the entire Bakijai proceedings are without jurisdiction. In support of his submission the learned counsel has referred to the unamended section 36(5) of the Act, which reads as follows : " 36. (5) No proceeding for the recovery of any sum payable under this Act shall be commenced after the expiration of three years after the date on which the original demand fixed under section 23 falls due or after the expiration of three years after the date on which any appeal or reference relating to such sum has been disposed of, whichever date is later. " It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the original assessment order in the instant case was passed on September 25, 1965, for the assessment yea ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ,September 27, 1967) The amended section 36 of the Act reads as follows : " 36. (1) Mode of recovery.--If the demand in respect of any dues under this Act is not paid on or before the date specified in sub-section (4) of section 35, the assessee shall be deemed to be in default : Provided that the Superintendent of Taxes or Agricultural Income-tax Officer may, in respect of any particular assessee and for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the date of payment of the dues or allow such assessee to pay the same by instalments and in such cases the assessee shall not be deemed to be in default, but in all such cases the provision of the proviso to section 19(1) shall apply. (2) Where an assessee is in default, the Superintendent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion, as laid down by the unamended sub-section (5) of section 36. That being so, the only question is whether the amended section 36 applies in the instant case. In order to arrive at a decision on this point, two points arise. Firstly, whether the recovery proceeding was barred by the provisions of the unamended sub-section (5) of section 36 on the date of coming into force of the amended section 36 of the Act. If the recovery proceeding was barred under the unamended section 36 before the amended section 36 came into force, then it may be an arguable case for the assessee to plead that the Bakijai proceeding that was barred by the unamended provision of law could not be revived by subsequent amendment, inasmuch as the provision of limi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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