TMI Blog1967 (5) TMI 10X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... RI J.- This appeal by certificate of fitness granted by the High Court is directed against the judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court at Calcutta, affirming the judgment of the single judge. This appeal was heard together in this court along with Civil Appeal No. 1421 of 1966 (Kalawati Devi Harlalka v. Commissioner of Income-tax) in which we have just delivered judgment, and apart from the questions involved in that case, the only additional point raised before us in this appeal is that no fair and reasonable opportunity was given to the appellant, Rampyari Devi Saraogi, hereinafter referred to as the assessee, by the Commissioner of Income-tax who passed the order dated March 15, 1963, under section 33B of the Indian Income-tax A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ncome-tax Act, 1922. The cases will be heard at 10.30 a.m. on 15th March, 1963, at my above office when you are requested to produce the necessary evidence in support of your contentions, objections in writing accompanied by the necessary evidence, if any, received on or before the appointment for personal hearing will also be duly considered. 4. Please note that no adjournment of the hearing will be granted. " On March 13, 1963, Mr. D. K. Chaudhuri, tax consultant, on behalf of the assessee wrote a letter to the Commissioner stating that the show cause notice under section 33B was bad in law, illegal and void and without jurisdiction. He further stated that the notice was absolutely vague and did not contain any indications in what r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... denied opportunity of showing cause against the grounds and material on which the Commissioner proceeded for the purpose of taking action under section 33B. In our view, the High Court was right in overruling the contention of the assessee. The order of the Commissioner is a detailed order. There is no doubt that he does mention some facts which were not indicated or communicated to the assessee and which the assessee had had no opportunity of meeting. For instance, in paragraph 9 it is stated : " It has been ascertained that the Income-tax Officer, D Ward, Howrah, had no jurisdiction over the assessee and hence all the assessments made by him are ab initio null and void. It has also been learnt from local enquiries that the assessee nev ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ute the basic grounds on which the orders under section 33B were passed by the Commissioner. There was ample material to show that the Income-tax Officer made the assessments in undue hurry. The assessee was a new assessee and filed voluntary returns in respect of a number of years, i.e., from assessment years 1952-53 to 1960-61. The return for the assessment year 1953-54 is undated. The returns for the assessment years 1952-53 and 1954-55 to 1957-58 are dated March 21, 1961, and those for the assessment years 1958-59 to 1960-61 are dated April 26, 1961. On March 21, 1961, the assessee made a declaration giving the facts regarding initial capital, the ornaments and presents received at the time of marriage, other gifts received from her fat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... results of the enquiries, mentioned above. Moreover, the assessee will have full opportunity of showing to the Income-tax Officer whether he had jurisdiction or not and whether the income assessed in the assessment orders which were originally passed was correct or not. It may be further mentioned that the assessee did not appeal to the Appellate Tribunal against the order passed under section 33B. The reason given by the learned counsel for not filing an appeal was that he could not raise before the Appellate Tribunal the constitutional question which was raised before the High Court and he could not pursue two remedies concurrently. But, in our view, there was nothing to prevent the assessee from filing the appeal and asking the Appell ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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