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TMI Blog1965 (11) TMI 137X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e summoned by the petitioner in a suit which he instituted and which is pending disposal. Objection was raised to marking of some of the documents by the plaintiff as evidence on the ground that those documents were privileged and should be treated as confidential under section 57(1) of the Act. This objection was upheld by the court below. This petition is to revise that order. The contention fo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ot be disclosed." Sub-section (2) provides for certain savings from the scope of subsection (1), one of which is that sub-section (1) will not apply to disclosure of the particulars covered by the sub-section to a civil court in any suit to which the Government are party and which relates to any matter arising out of any proceeding under the Act. At first sight sub-section (1) may appear to opera ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ty[1960] 11 S.T.C. 730., following the principle in Venkatachala Chettiar v. Sampathu Chettiar[1909] I.L.R. 32 Mad. 62. it was held that rule 47(1) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Rules which is more or less similarly worded as section 57(1) of the Madras General Sales Tax Act did not bar disclosure of particulars of documents on summons to be produced in court. There the view expressed was that r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sub-section, there should be no objection to marking in evidence such documents as the Court may think fit.
It may be that section 57(1) is intended to protect assessees by treating the particulars contained in a specified document as confidential. But this privilege appears to be only a qualified one and is not absolute. On that view the petition is allowed with costs.
Petition allowed. X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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