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2017 (11) TMI 1009 - HC - Income TaxValidity of requisition under section 132A(1) - sufficiency to order requisition of the seized cash - requisition made under section 132A(1) to the S.S.P. Muzaffar Nagar for producing the cash which was recovered from one of the accused Held that:- The submission that there was sufficient information and material for forming an opinion in sending the requisition under section 132A(1) as is reflected from the order-sheet is of no substance inasmuch as the information and the reason to believe has to be contained in the letter of requisition itself. Even otherwise, the order-sheet only contains that the local Hindi newspaper contains the news item that Smt. Rewati Singh was murdered and looted and the looted amount of about ₹ 51 lakhs was seized by the Muzaffar Nagar Police from the accused persons. A further order dated August 13, 2010 states that the seizure of the aforesaid amount is a strong reason to believe that Hukum Singh is having income which is not being disclosed. Therefore, the newspaper information is sought to be made the basis for issuing the above requisition letter but the availability of such information by itself without there being any other material or information which would justify that the person in possession was having income over and above that disclosed and that he had concealed the real income is not sufficient to order requisition of the seized cash. Requisitioning of books of accounts and their documents under section 132A(1)(b) without recording satisfaction or reason to believe is not sustainable in law and is therefore liable to be quashed. In view of the above decisions no requisition could have been made under section 132A(1) to the S.S.P. Muzaffar Nagar for producing the cash which was recovered from one of the accused. The documents or the books of account in respect whereof the requisition is said to have been issued have not been disclosed either in the requisition or in any other supportive material which means that the requisitioning authority had no intimation whatsoever as to the documents or the books of account which he proposes to be requisitioned. In such a situation, the only inference which can be drawn is that no satisfaction or any reason to believe was validly recorded by the requisitioning authority for issuing the requisition. In view of the above, the conclusion drawn by the Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax for requisition under section 132A(1) is not legally tenable in law and cannot be sustained.
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