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TMI Blog1961 (12) TMI 3X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nte clause in sub-section (1) of section 54 of the Income-tax Act only relates to the Indian Evidence Act and not to the Code of Criminal Procedure. The non abstante clause cannot restrict the embargo placed on the court under section 54 of the Income-tax Act : the said clause only operates to make it clear that the said general ban prevails notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Indian Evidence Act. That apart, section 54 of the Income-tax Act contains in effect an unconditional prohibition against a public servant producing any such document, and that prohibition does not exclude any criminal process from its operation. We, therefore, hold that there are no merits in this contention either. Appeal allowed. - - - - - Dated:- 13-1 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dated May 16, 1958, overruled his objections and directed the Commissioner of Income-tax to produce the documents admitted to be in his possession or in the possession of officers subordinate to him. The Commissioner of Income-tax preferred an appeal against the order to the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, but the same was rejected. Hence the present appeal. Learned counsel for the Commissioner of Income-tax contends that under section 54(1) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, no court shall be entitled to require the appellant to produce before it the said documents as they formed part of the record of an assessment proceeding taken before the relevant income-tax authority. Learned counsel for the respondents argues that the said ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ect prohibit a public servant from disclosing any particulars contained in any such document in court. The Presidency Magistrate held that the documents in question formed part of the record of the assessment proceeding : and nothing has been placed before us to displace the said finding. We shall, therefore, proceed on the basis that the condition laid down in the first part of section 54 of the Income-tax Act has been complied with. On the said basis, this appeal is covered by the decision of this court in Charu Chandra Kundu v. Gurupada Ghosh. There, in a suit filed by the respondent for recovery of money, the appellant applied to the court for the issue of a summons against the income-tax authorities to produce a statement made by th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing to the contrary in the Indian Evidence Act. That apart, section 54 of the Income-tax Act contains in effect an unconditional prohibition against a public servant producing any such document, and that prohibition does not exclude any criminal process from its operation. We, therefore, hold that there are no merits in this contention either. In the result, we sustain the objections raised by the Commissioner of Income-tax against the production of the said documents. The order of the High Court and that of the Presidency Magistrate are set aside, and the application filed by the first respondent for the production of the originals of the letters from the income-tax department is dismissed. Appeal allowed. - - TaxTMI - TMITax ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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