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2013 (2) TMI 124 - HC - Income TaxValidity of search and seizure proceedings - Jurisdiction - Block assessment - one of the main issues raised on behalf of the petitioners is that the searches and seizures conducted by the respondents, in the premises in question, are arbitrary and illegal, due to lack of jurisdiction. As such, all the proceedings of the respondents, based on the illegal searches and seizures, would be void. - It is also noted that the petitioners had claimed that the respondents had not followed the procedures contemplated under the relevant provisions of law for ordering such searches and seizures, including the provisions contained in section 132 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. Held that:- It is not for this court to indulge in the exercise of finding out the sufficiency or the relevance of the materials, which were available with the authority concerned, for arriving at his conclusion. If the authority had some materials for his belief that certain documents and other relevant materials were secreted, it would be sufficient for giving him a reason to order the search and seizure. Department was justified in having the reasons to believe that certain documents and other things had been secreted in the premises in question and that they would be relevant, in respect of the alleged evasion of payment of income-tax, said to be payable by the petitioners. Further, the authority concerned had also the reason to believe that such documents and things would not be produced by the persons concerned, in the normal course, to enable the respondent-Department to conduct necessary inquiries in the matter. It is also noted that the authority concerned, who had issued the search warrants, had the necessary information from the pre-search enquiries and from the available income-tax records. Further, it is not in dispute that it would be open to the petitioners to raise all the grounds available to them in defending themselves during the enquiry and in the subsequent proceedings that may be initiated against them, based on the materials seized during the search. It would also be open to them to prove, by way of sufficient evidence, that there was no evasion of payment of income-tax, as alleged by the respondents. There is no doubt that the acts of search and seizure cannot be justified by the availability of incriminating materials in the premises in question, during such search, to support the decision made by the authority concerned, once it is found that the issuance of the warrants to search was invalid in the eye of law. However, in the present cases, the petitioners have not been in a position to show that the authority concerned had issued the warrants of search, arbitrarily, without following the procedures established by law or with a mala fide motive. Writ petition dismissed - decided against the assessee.
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