TMI Blog1971 (8) TMI 57X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the names of M/s. Roshan Mahammad and M/s. Nazir Mahammad. When the trial commenced, an application was made by the plaintiffs for summoning the income-tax records relating to the asssessment years 1953-54 to 1968-69 from the Income-tax Officer, Ward C, who was the concerned assessing officer. No notice was given of this application to defendant No. 2, who is the petitioner in this court, but orders were passed calling upon the Income-tax Officer to produce the records. On July 9, 1970, the documents were produced by an inspector of the income-tax department. At that point the objection was raised by the defendants about the legality of the order calling for production of the documents and the power of the court to receive those document ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or accounts or documents produced under the provisions of this Act, or in any evidence given, or affidavit or deposition made in, the course of any proceedings under this Act, other than proceedings under Chapter XXII, or in any record of any assessment proceeding, or any proceeding relating to recovery of a demand, prepared for the purposes of this Act, shall be treated as confidential, and notwithstanding anything contained in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1of 1872), no court shall, save as provided in this Act, be entitled to require any public servant to produce before it any such return, accounts, documents or record or any part of any such record, or to give evidence before it in respect thereof. (2) No public servant shall disclos ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... est, specify by notification in the Official Gazette in this behalf, any such information relating to any assessee in respect of any assessment made under this Act or the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 (11 of 1922), as may, in the opinion of the Board or other income-tax authority, be necessary for the purpose of enabling the officer, authority or body to perform his or its functions under that law. (b) where a person makes an application to the Commissioner in the prescribed form for any information relating to any assessee in respect of any assessment made under this Act or the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922 (11 of 1922), on or after the 1st day of April, 1960, the Commissioner may, if he is satisfied that it is in the public interest so to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate in its Extraordinary issue. These, admittedly, are with reference to an assessee being a banking company within the meaning of section 34-A of the Banking Companies Act, 1949. Thus, as it appears, after the omission of section 137 from the statute, the restriction in respect of disclosure of information has been confined only in respect of the banking companies and none other. Three contentions were raised by Mr. Palit before me: (1) According to him, the bar under section l37 continues by virtue of section 6 of the General Clauses Act even after the omission of section 137 from the statute; (2) As a result of the notification under section 138(2) the ban has been made more rigorous; and (3) Under section 138(t) an application i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ction 6 of the General Clauses Act does not arise, because after the omission of the provision from the statute the ban cannot continue to exist in respect of a period subsequent to the deletion. The scope of the ban contemplated under section 138(2) of the Act has now been limited only to the banking companies and there is no scope for the contention that by virtue of such notifications there can be any restriction upon disclosure qua the assessee in this case. That contention of Mr. Palit has, therefore, to be negatived. Now I shall come to the last contention raised in this case which is on the basis of the provision contained in section 138(1)(b) which I have already extracted. That provision is an enabling one and it is open to the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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