Reports of Public Accounts Committee. - Income Tax - 1540/CBDT

INSTRUCTION NO. 1540/CBDT Dated: November 30, 1983 In one of the reports of the Public Accounts Committee the P.A.C. has given an instance of harassment and callousness, where an Income-tax Officer, inspite of being assured by an assessee that she had filed her return and paid the tax six years earlier, proceeded with the assessment (for the second time), without caring to verify the assessee's assertions for which documentary proof was available. The Committee had, therefore, observed that the Income-tax Officer in this case had become a law unto himself, instead of acting in a quasi-judicial capacity. 2. The Board have taken a very serious view of the matter and desire that such types of cases should be avoided and utmost care should be taken to ensure that such lapses do not occur in future. 3. These instructions may be brought to the notice of the field officers working in your charge.