Punjab-Haryana High Court
Frontier Trading Company vs P.N. Chaudhry, Income-Tax Officer And ... on 20 November, 1979
Equivalent citations: [1982]136ITR503(P&H)
JUDGMENT Dhillon, J.
1. In this writ petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the notice issued by the ITO dated 30th January, 1970, copy of which is annex. D with the writ petition, on various grounds. It has been averred in the petition that for the accounting year relevant to the assessment year 1961-62, a return was filed by the petitioner under Section 139 of the I.T. Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), and the assessment proceedings were completed after due investigation. The impugned notice has now been issued which, according to the petitioner, is without jurisdiction.
2. The learned counsel for the petitioner contended that in law if the assessment has been completed on the basis of the facts mentioned in the return and the same was accepted after investigation, then subsequently it is not open to the ITO to initiate proceedings under Section 147(a) of the Act as, according to the learned counsel, the assessee having disclosed the material facts and the said facts having been found to be correct after due investigation, cannot be held to be guilty of having omitted to disclose fully and truly the material facts necessary for the assessment for that year. This legal question has been examined by us in C. W. P. No. 3671 of 1971--Kirpa Ram Ramji Dass v. ITO, [1982] 135 ITR 68 (P & H) decided on November 20, 1979--and we have repelled this contention.
3. For the reasons recorded in C.W.P. No. 3671, we are unable to agree with the learned counsel so far as this contention is concerned.
4. The only other contention raised is that there was no relevant material before the ITO on the basis of which he could have reason to believe that the income in question has escaped assessment within the purview of Section 147(a) of the Act. There is no merit in this contention as well, as we find that in para. 13 of the return (affidavit) it has been specifically averred as follows :
" 13. ......
In the instant case, however, the facts are wholly different. The genuineness of the loan of M/s. Tola Singh Sohan Singh was never doubted by the Income-tax Officer who proceeded on the assumption that the apparent state of affairs as represented by the assessee were the correct state of affairs. Later on, long after the finalisation of the assessment, this particular creditor made a statement before the then Income-tax Officer, District II(iv), Amritsar, that he had been carrying on hawala busi ness and that his loans to the various parties including the petitioners were not genuine. The Income-tax Officer sent this information to the Income-tax Officer, District II(ii), Amritsar, who, accordingly, after satisfying himself as to the facts, initiated action under Section 147(a) of the Income-tax Act."
5. A reading of the above averments clearly goes to show that the name of the petitioner finds mention in the statement of Inder Singh that the transactions entered into by M/s. Tola Singh Sohan Singh were bogus transactions and in fact no loan was advanced. It is, therefore, idle to contend that the ITO had no relevant material on the basis of which he could have reason to believe that the income in question has escaped assessment. This contention is, therefore, without any merit.
No other point has been pressed before us.
6. For the reasons recorded above, there is no merit in this writ petition and the same is hereby dismissed with no order as to costs. The ITO may now proceed with the reassessment in accordance with law.
7. The learned counsel for the petitioner has made, an oral prayer for the grant of a certificate for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court. No case is made out for the grant of the requisite certificate. Leave is declined.