TMI Blog1957 (2) TMI 72X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ad not shown a certain income. Under the circumstances the Income-tax Officer issued a notice on the 20th of March, 1952, and this notice was served on the 16th of April, 1952. This assessment was completed on the 28th of March, 1953. The assessment was challenged on the ground that the notice pursuant to which this assessment was made was not valid, and the Tribunal held that the challenge was justified and held that the assessment could not be sustained. Now section 34(1) deals with the notice and it provides that in cases falling under clause (a), with which we are concerned in this case, he may serve a notice within eight years of the end of that year, which in this case would be the 31st of March, 1944. The notice, as I have already ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e taxing authorities to make the assessment and the assessment may be made one year from the date of the service of the notice even though such period may go beyond the period of eight years laid down in sub-section (3) itself. In other words, if the proviso is applicable, the notice having been served on the 16th of April, 1952, the assessment could have been made on or before the 16th of April, 1953; and the contention of the Department is that this proviso applies and inasmuch as the assessment was completed on the 28th of March, 1953, the assessment is valid. Now the clear fallacy underlying the contention of the Department is that we do not come to the stage of considering the assessment order until the notice under section 34 is valid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sion limited as mentioned and all that the proviso refers to is the actual quantum of time mentioned in section 34(1), and that for the purpose of that proviso we must consider as the material or relevant date the issue of the notice and not the service of the notice, even so, as already pointed out, the question of the application of the proviso only arises when an assessment order is made. Before a valid assessment order can be made, the initial and preliminary stage is to consider the validity of the notice. As the notice itself is invalid, nothing further survives for consideration. It is only when the notice is validly served that, in order to decide whether an assessment order is valid, we have to consider whether the assessment o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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