2009 (7) TMI 79 - SC - Income Tax

Return of documents /records seized High Court ordered that survey operation under Section 133A in the petitioner s premises impounding of books of account/documents on 28.5.2008 and retention of the same till date being made illegally without following the procedure as laid down in Section 133A of the I.T. Act the petitioner is entitled to get back the impounded books of account/documents department challenged the order of HC Held that - we direct the aforesaid officer of the High Court to return the documents to the respondents herein within two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order subject to the condition that the appellants herein would be entitled to take the print out of all the pages of the documents and the copies of the CD ROM which may be certified by the said Deputy Registrar. Also similar certification would be granted by the said officer in respect of the photocopies of the blank cheques and other documents which have been photocopied

Summary

Issues involved:
1. Seizure and return of documents impounded during a survey under Section 133A of the Income Tax Act.

Analysis:
The Supreme Court, consisting of S.B. Sinha and Deepak Verma, JJ., granted leave to hear the case. The court noted that the appellants did not object to the return of the seized documents, which had been impounded since 28.1.2008. The High Court had directed the return of the impounded books of account/documents to the petitioner, citing the illegality of the survey operation and impounding without following the procedure under Section 133A of the Income Tax Act. Referring to legal precedents, the court highlighted that even if the search and seizure were in contravention of the Act, the seized material could still be used subject to the law before the Income Tax authorities against the person from whom it was seized. Therefore, the opposite party was directed to return the impounded documents within two weeks from the date of production of the court order.

The court further directed the officer of the High Court to return the documents to the respondents within two weeks from the date of receipt of the court order. The appellants were granted the right to take printouts of all document pages and CD ROM copies, certified by the Deputy Registrar. Similar certification was to be provided for photocopies of blank cheques and other documents. The appeal was disposed of with these directions, ensuring the return of the impounded documents to the rightful parties while safeguarding the appellants' rights to certified copies of the material.