Madhya Pradesh High Court
Commissioner Of Income Tax vs Birbal Khanna & Co. on 25 August, 1982
Equivalent citations: (1983)33CTR(MP)240
ORDER
By the Court - This is an application u/s 256(2) of the IT Act, 1961, for directing the IT Appellate Tribunal to state the case and refer the questions of law set out in para 17 of the application.
2. The reference arise out of the proceedings for registration of the assessee firm for the asst. yr. 1971-72. The assessee firm consisted of eight partners. Seven were examined before the ITO. All of them said that Mohammed Ishaq, the eight partner had signed the deed of partnership in their presence and was a partner in the business. The ITO did not accept this statement and refused registration of the firm. The AAC confirmed the order of the ITO. It appears that after the ITO had disposed of this case an affidavit of Mohammed Ishaq dt. 11-5-1976 was produced before the ITO. The Tribunal relied upon the statement of seven partners and the affidavit to hold that Mohammed Ishaq was in fact a partner. The ld. standing counsel for the department submitted that as the affidavit of Mohammed Ishaq was not filed before the ITO passed the order refusing to register the firm, the Tribunal could not have relied upon it. The affidavit was already on record of the ITO. The assessee could have produced the same even before the Tribunal. We do not find that there was any illegality in relying upon the affidavit. The question whether Mohammed Ishaq was in fact a partner was a question of fact, and, therefore, the Tribunals finding must stand.
3. In our opinion, no question of law arises. The application is dismissed with costs. Counsels fee Rs. 100, if certified.