9911796707
TMI Blog1974 (9) TMI 39X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... jections under rule 61 of Schedule II of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as " the Schedule "). Even before these objections of the income-tax department were decided, the Tax Recovery Officer issued the sale certificate to the petitioner on June 24, 1969. The objections of the income-tax department were rejected by him, vide his order dated October 16, 1969. That order was, however, reversed in appeal by the Commissioner, Jullundur Division. A second appeal therefrom at the instance of the petitioner was dismissed by the Financial Commissioner, Punjab, as being incompetent. This led to the filing of Writ Petition No. 3384 of 1972, at the instance of the present petitioner in this court, which was allowed by Jain J., who af ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... isions of rule 53 of the Schedule. This order (annexure " E ") dated July 23, 1973, of the Tax Recovery Officer (Income-tax), Jullundur, accepting the objections of respondent No. 1 was affirmed by the Additional Commissioner vide his order (annexure " F ") dated October 31, 1973. It is these two orders (annexures " E " and " F ") that have been impugned by the petitioner in the present writ petition, inter alia, on the ground that both the Tax Recovery Officer and the Additional Commissioner acted in excess of their jurisdiction in entertaining such objections as had not been incorporated in the objection application dated June 11, 1969. Since the petitioner had sought support for the above contention, even before respondents Nos. 2 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... details of the nature of the irregularity could be later on supplied to the Tax Recovery Officer even at the time of hearing of the objections appears to be warranted by implication from the following observations of Shadi Lal C.J. in Volkart Brothers' case : " In the application which he made, he merely stated that the sale was not published or conducted in accordance with the rules, but did not specifically mention any irregularity. Nor was the nature of the irregularity disclosed at the time of the hearing of the application in the court of first instance. " While the findings of the Tax Recovery Officer (Income-tax), Jullundur, Shri C. L. Wali, affirmed in appeal regarding the facts constituting material irregularity in publicatio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to the material irregularity as well as an allegation as to substantial injury. " While there is no dispute with the proposition enunciated in the observations abovesaid of their Lordships of the Supreme Court relied on by the petitioner, the following observations of their Lordships appearing in the same paragraph are also instructive and cannot be lost sight of : " But, in our opinion, in a case like the present where substantial injury is alleged to be implicit in the material irregularity set out in the application, it would he too technical to hold that the application should be dismissed on the preliminary ground that no specific or express averment has been made as to substantial injury suffered by respondent No. 1 ". Judge ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... price, confirmed the sale, the sale would be vitiated as the failure of the confirming authority to apply its mind to the reasonableness of the price would amount to material irregularity. It was further held that where the authority either mechanically conducted the sale or the confirming authority, routinely signed assent to the sale papers, not bothering to see if the offer was too low and a better price would have been obtained and, in fact, the price was substantially inadequate, there was the presence of both the elements of irregularity and injury. In the present case, the Tax Recovery Officer (Income-tax), Jullundur, while dealing with the objections of respondent No. 1 on the basis of material on the record, came to the conclusi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ional Commissioner has pointed out in the written statement that he was vested with the functions of the Commissioner and was authorised to hear the appeals. As regards the question as to whether the decisions of the Lahore High Court are of a binding nature it is unnecessary to go into that aspect as it does not directly arise here. Suffice it to say that the respondents Nos. 2 and 3 acted improperly in rejecting the two decisions of the Lahore High Court off-hand in an unceremonious manner by merely saying that the Lahore High Court is located in foreign territory and its decisions are not binding on them, for the pre-partition decisions of the Lahore High Court are entitled to the greatest respect, more so the decisions flowing from t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
