Supreme Court of India
B.N. Sharma vs Commissioner Of Income Tax, Orissa on 27 February, 1996
Equivalent citations: [1997]226ITR442(SC), (1998)8SCC463, AIRONLINE 1996 SC 882
Bench: B.P. Jeevan Reddy, S.B. Majmudar
ORDER
1. This appeal has to be allowed following the decision of this Court in CIT v. Onkar Saran and Sons, . The question referred for the opinion of the High Court under Section 256(2) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is: "Whether the amount of penalty imposable should have been worked out on the basis of the law in force at the time the return was filed and the delinquency of excluding a part of the income had been committed?"
The High Court has answered the said question holding:
"Our answer, therefore, to the question is: The amount of penalty imposable is to be worked out on the basis of the law in force on the date the Income Tax Officer directed initiation of the proceeding under Section 271(l)(c) of the Act."
2. It is, however, held by this Court in Onkar Saran Case (Supra) that in such cases, it is the law obtaining on the date of the filing of the return which contains the concealment or misstatement, as the case may be, that is relevant and not the date on which the penalty proceedings are initiated. Accordingly, the question is answered in the following words: "The amount of penalty imposable should be worked out on the basis of the law in force at the time of filing of the return whether original and/or revised which contained the alleged concealment or misstatement, was filed."
3. The appeal is allowed in the above terms. No costs.