the Commissioner of Income-Tax, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad v. K. Adinarayana Murty

Judgment

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 632 of 1966. ~ppeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated April 14, 1964 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in case referred No. 46 of 1962. 3. Sen, GopaiSingh, S. P. Nayyar and R. N. Sachthey, for the appellant. S. T. Desai, B. Parthasarathy and 0. C. Mathur, for the res· pondent. c.I.T. v. AD!NARAYANA (Ramaswam1, J.) The Judgment of the Court was delivered by .Ramaswami, J. This appeal is brought, by special leave, fro~ the judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh dated Apnl 14, 1964 in Referred Case No. 46 of 1962. The respondent, hereinafter called the "assessee" was a Hindu Undivided family consisting of K. Ankineedu and his two sons. For the assessment year 1!149-50 corresponding to the previous financial year ending March 31, 1949, the assessee submitted a return in response to a notice sent to him. The Income-tax Officer computed h!S total income as Rs. 2,429 /- only which was below the taxable limit and so the assessee was declared not liable to pay income·!~.

Subsequent to the assessment, the Income-tax Officer had information that the assessee had done some business as procurement agent for the Government and in this. business he had earned large profits which had escaped assessment. Accordingly he issued a notice under s. 34 of the Income-tax Act, 1922 (hereinaner called the 'Act') on March 22, 1957. In response to the notice the assessee made a return on April 30, 1957. Prior to the issue of the above notice the Income-tax Officer had taken the view in the assessment made for the year 1954-55 that the correot status of the assessee was not 'Hindu Undivided Family' but his. status was .. individual". In accordance with this view the notice under s. 34 of the Act was issued to the assessee on March 22, 1957 in the status of an 'individual'.

As the proceeaings under this notice were continuing, but before the assessment could be made, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner in the appeal for the assessment year 1954-55 accepted the contention of the assessee and held that the status of the assessee was that of 'Hindu Undivi· ed Family' and not 'individual'. Thereafter, the Income-tax Officer issued a fresh notice under s. 34 on February 12, 1958 which was served on the assessee on the same day. This notice was issued to assess the income of the assessee as a 'Hindu Undivided Family' f~om the procurement business which had escaped .from the original ~ssessment made on February 10, 1950. A return in pursuance of the second notice was duly filed on February 28 1958 and the a5s~m~nt was ulti_mately made under s. 34 of the 'Act in ~ status of Hmdu Und!Vtded Family' on August 16, 1958. In JS a~sment, a sum of Rs. 60,000/- was included as the income escapmg from the original assessment.

The assessee preferred dan appeal to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and co'!ten ed that the ~roceedings under s. 34 of the Act were not ¥ahd i:ause no not1~ cou~d be issu;d after the expiry of 8 years ~~: e ~lose of the preVtous year as distinct from the 'assessconte ~ar · _The Appellate Assistant Commissioner accepted the r~ 101{!1sed by the assessee and held that the proceeding was mva I . Income-tax Officer took the matter in appeal before the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal and claimed that the period of limitation for starting proceedings under s. 34 was to be counted from the end of the 'assessment year' and not from the end of the 'previous year'; The Tribunal accepted his contention and over· ruled the view of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner on this point.

The assessee also contended that the assessment proceed· ing started by the second notice dated February 12, 1958 was ·bad in Jaw as he had already made a return on April 30, 1957 which was in pursuance of the first notice under s. 34 issued on March 22, 1957. It appears from the statement of the case that the Income-tax Officer was required to disclose the particular notice on which he made the assessment. The Income-tax Officer said that the assessment was based on the second notice. .The Ap· pellate Tribunal took the view that the return filed by the assessee on April 30, 1957 in response to the first notice was not a valid return and the Income-tax Officer was not bound to act upon it. Accordingly the Appellate Tribunal held that the assessment made under the second notice was legally valid.

Since the Appellate Assistant Commissioner did not deal with the merits of the assessment the Appellate Tril)unal remanded the appeal to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner for being dealt with on merits. At the instance of the assessee the Appellate Tribunal stated case to the High Court on the following question of Jaw : "Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the assessment in pursuance of the notice issued under s. 34 on 12-2-1958 is a valid assessment?" The High Court held that tht:. first notice dated March 22, 1957 was not invalid in Jaw and consequently the issue of the second notice on February 12, 1958 was illegal and the assessment made in pursuance of that notice was also illegal. The High Court accordingly answered the question of law in favour of the assessee.

The question presented for determination in this appeal is whether it was competent for the Income-tax Officer to issue the second notice dated February 12, 1958 and continue proceedings thereon ignoring the return already filed by the assessee in pursuance of the first notice under the same section. It was pointed out by Mr. S. T. Desai on behalf of the assessee that both the notices under s. 34 of the Act were in identical terms and were addressed to the assessee in his name and the issue of the second notice made no difference in its contents to the knowledge of the assessee. It was also contended that the assessee filed his return in the status of 'Hindu Undivided Family' in response to the first notice and the Income-tax Officer ought not to have ignored that return. We are unable to accept the argument put forward on behalf of the assessee as correct. The Income-tax Officer could not have validly acted on the return filed by the assessee in the status of 'Hindu Undivi- C.l.T. v. ADINilAYANA (Rama.swami, J.) l J ded Family' and any assessment made by the Inoomc·tax Officer on such a retum would have been Invalid in law because the notice under s.

34 had been issued In the status of 'Individual' and sane· tion of the Commissioner for the issue of a notice under s. 34 was also obtained on that basis. We therefore consider that the Income· tax Officer was entitled to ignore the return filed by the assessee as non est in law. It is not disputed that the Income-tax Officer issued the first notice under s. 34 of the Act on March 22, 1957 to the assessee in the status of 'individual'. The Appellate Tribunal has stated in 3ara 3 of the statement of the case that the Income-tax Officer ha taken the view that the correct status of the assessee was 'individual' and in accordance with that view "a notice under s. 34 was issued to the assessee as above for making an assessment in the status of 'individual' ". As there was some ambiguity in the statement of the case on this point, we referred to the orltat file of the income-tax proceedings and satisfied ourselves t at the assertion of fact made In the statement of the case is correct.

It appears that on February 13, 1957 the Income-tax Officer had applied for the sanction of the Commissioner for in· stituting proceedings under s. 34(1)(a) of the Act against the assessee to make an assessment in the status of an 'individual' with regard to the procurement agency business. Sanction of the Commissioner was ~ven to the proposal of the Income-tax Officer and thereafter the st notice under s. 34 of the Act was issued on March 22, 1957. In this state of facts we are of opinion that the proceeding taken under the first notice under s. 34 of the Act was invalid and ultra vlres. The correct status of the assessee was that of 'Hindu Undivided Family' as was held by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner in the assessment for the year 1954-55 and since the first noti~e under s. 34 was issued to the assessee as an 'individual' for !llaktng assessment in that status, it is manifest that the proceed. mgs taken under that notice were illegal and without jurisdiction.

U'!der the scheme of the Income-tax Act the 'Indi:vidual' and th 'Hmdu Un~ivided .Family' are treated as separate units of assess: :i:nt and 1f .a notice under s. 34 of the Act is wrongly issued to assessee m the status of an 'ind· · d r statu.s of 'Hindu Undivided Family' fu~ ~~tic~ mot ~n the correct ceedings talren under that notice e is eg and all prodiction. It was contended by Ma:° 5ui;a r::s. and without juris. assessee that the return was filed b · th · Bl • on behalf of the first '!ot!ce in the character of 'Hin~u U 'J~C;"J: m r~ponse to the subm1ss10n of the return by the assess 11: !VI Family'. But the to the character of the proceedi .ee Will not make any difference which must be held to be illeg1:if mluruan~e of the first notice already stated. We are therefore of~ u !"! Vires for the reasons Officer was legally justified · . . he opimon that the Income-tax s.

34 of the Act and the re~8J:f ~ng the first notice issued under that notice and consequently the Y the assessee in response to assessment made by the Income- (1967] 3 S.<i.R. tax Officer in pursuance of the six;ond notice issued on February 12, 195'8 was a valid assessment. We accordingly allow this appeal, set aside the judgment of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh dated April 14, 1964 and hold that the question of law referred to the High Court should be answered in the affumatiYe and against the assessee. Thsre will be no order as to costs in this appeal. G.C. A pp~a/ allowed. l