TMI Blog1937 (12) TMI 9X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion dealing with the withdrawal of the appeal before the Assistant Commissioner was added by this Court at the request of the assessee on which a supplementary statement of the case has been submitted by the Commissioner. The facts are these: On the 23rd June, 1933, an assessment was made on the Mamdot Estate for the year 1933-34, the accounting year being 1932-33. On the 16th February, 1935, an additional assessment was made under Section 34 of the Income tax Act in the respect of a sum of ₹ 8,675? which the assessee was said to have earned from interest on securities. The assessee appealed against this order to the Assistant Commissioner of Income tax, and while that appeal was pending, the Assistant Commissioner of Income tax ca ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sessment including a fresh item of income after the period of limitation prescribed in Section 34 has expired? Questions Nos. 2 and 3 are the same as propounded by the Commissioner, though expressed in different words. In our view all these questions must be answered in the negative. We take up question No. 1 first. The Income tax Act is a special piece of legislation dealing with a special subject and so far as it goes it is self-contained. It will be seen that whereas the powers of a Civil Court are vested in the Income tax authorities by virtue of Section 37 of the Income tax Act, they have been restricted to the particular matters dealt with in the body of the section itself. This clearly shows that in all other matters the Inc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t an appeal against an assessment cannot be withdrawn. It is true that that judgment had been given under a statute which is not in force here, but the principles governing the question are the same. In the words of Lord Wright at pp. 500-501 it would indeed be a curious position if, notice of appeal having been given by that tax-payer in the hope of reducing his assessment, he should be able, when the information elicited shows quite conclusively that the assessment so far from being an overcharge, was an undercharge, to prevent the Commissioners from estimating or valuing or assessing his liability according to the true facts which have been elicited, or that they should be debarred from proceeding further to develop the facts so as to a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ference to the total income of the assessee. A notice issued under this section, therefore, pertains to those items only which have escaped assessment and to no others. If it was permissible to the Assistant Commissioner of Income tax to add fresh items of income under different heads to the items already detected by him as having escaped, even though the limitation prescribed by Section 34 had expired, it would deprive the assessee of the protection afforded by Section 34. No doubt section 31 empowers an Assistant Commissioner of Income tax in general terms to enhance an assessment, but we do not consider that that power can be exercised irrespective of the limitations imposed by Section 34. One of the cardinal principles of the interpr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ssistant Commissioner are limited to annulling it and do not extend to enhancing an assessment which the Income tax Officer had no jurisdiction to make. In Jagarnath Therani v. Commissioner of Income Tax, Bihar Orissa, a Division Bench of the Patna High Court held that under Section 31 of the Income Tax Act, an Assistant Commissioner of Income tax has power to enhance an assessment made by an Income tax Officer but he is not empowered to make a new assessment in appeal by adding new sources of income which were not the subject-matter of the appeal. On these grounds we have no hesitation in holding that in the circumstances of the present case the Assistant Commissioner is not empowered so to enhance the income assessable under Secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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