TMI Blog1953 (3) TMI 44X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to pass an order under Section 33 when an appeal has been preferred by the assessee and is pending before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. Now, the facts briefly are that the Income-tax Officer made assessments on the assessee in respect of the assessment years 1947-48, 1948-49 and 1949-50. The assessee was registered as a firm under Section 26A of the Act. The assessee appealed to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the Appellate Assistant Commissioner reduced the assessment for the years 1947-48 and 1948-49, and the appeal with regard to the assessment year 1949-50 was still pending before him. The Commissioner then passed an order under Section 33B, the effect of which was to direct the Income-tax Officer to cancel the regis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Income-tax Officer when the assessee had appealed from that order. As pointed out in the last reference, the object of enacting Section 33B was to confer a power upon the Commissioner in the interest of revenue to revise orders of the Income-tax Officer which could not be revised under any circumstances if the assessee did not appeal from those orders. However erroneous the order of the Income-tax Officer may be, however prejudicial to the revenue, the assessee by refusing to exercise his right of appeal could make that order conclusive. In order to fill up this obvious lacuna the Legislature enacted Section 33B. But once the assessee has appealed, there is no difficulty whatsoever in the way of the department in agitating any question b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act, viz., the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, and the Appellate Tribunal, the Commissioner exercised his revisional powers under Section 33B. In our opinion, the revisional powers are exceptional powers to be exercised at exceptional time for exceptional reasons, and the exceptional reason for which the powers can be and should be exercised is when the Commissioner feels that the public revenue is likely to suffer and that no remedy is open to him to get the order of the Income-tax Officer revised. As he had a clear obvious remedy in the appeal which was pending before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, in our opinion, he had no jurisdiction to exercise his powers under Section 33B. In view of this decision it is unnecessary to decide ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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