TMI Blog1994 (10) TMI 107X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... case of Sharbati Devi Jhalani v. CWT [1986] 159 ITR 549 which decision subsequently came to be over-ruled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Bharat Hari Singhania v. CWT [1994] 207 ITR 1. It is submitted in the applications that an order which was a good order at the time when it was passed may subsequently reveal a mistake apparent from the record in the light of a subsequent Supreme Court decision and the authorities which passed the earlier order were duty-bound to rectify the same so as to eliminate the said error. It is further submitted that the law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court was not a declaration of law from the date of the judgment of the Supreme Court, but the law as it ought to have been all along from the da ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 67 (SC); and (vi) ITO v. Shashi Raj Kapoor [1987] 21 ITD 406 (Bom.). 3. The learned counsel for the assessees, on the other hand, opposed the applications filed by the revenue raising an initial argument to the effect that since the orders of the Tribunal had been accepted and no reference applications had been filed the Department was precluded from seeking a reversal of the order of the Tribunal through the process of rectification. The further submissions on the part of the learned counsel, however, were in the direction of contending that there was no mistake apparent from the record in the orders passed by the Tribunal and it had rightly decided the matter by following the decision of the jurisdictional High Court and the judgment ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to us, supports the stand of the Revenue since their Lordships have held that finality can be disturbed "by a process known to law or by a process authorised by law". In the present case the Department has made a request for a modification to be carried out in the orders passed by the Tribunal by a process known to law and which is authorised by law and by this we refer to the provisions of section 35 of the Wealth-tax Act under which the tax authorities as also the Tribunal are bound to rectify mistakes which are apparent from the record in the orders passed within a stipulated period. Then again, the decision of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of R.K. Sawhney, Executor of the Estate of Late R.B. Nathu Ram does not advance the ass ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... w-point canvassed on behalf of the revenue. The Tribunal in fact has accepted similar submissions on the part of the Department in the case of Shashi Raj Kapoor accepting the miscellaneous application filed by them consequent to a Supreme Court decision delivered after the judgment of the Special Bench of the Tribunal atBombaytaking a view to the contrary. This is what their Lordships of the Bombay High Court observed in the case of V. G. Badamia : "The first part of the question is whether the order of the Tribunal originally passed suffered from a mistake apparent on the face of the record. The admitted position being that, in view of the two Supreme Court decisions referred to above, the amounts gifted by the deceased and subsequently ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court is always retrospective and the decision which is overruled was never the law. The overruling decision should be deemed to have been in force even on the day when the order sought to be rectified was passed. A subsequent binding decision of the Supreme Court or of the High Court has retrospective operation as in the case of subsequent legislation and overruling is always retrospective." 7. At this stage we would like to refer to the following observations in the same judgment vis-a-vis the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code which were referred to by their Lordships of the Madras High Court in the case of Khanna Auto Corpn.: "Section 254(2) and section 154 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, enable the concerned authorities 'to rectif ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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