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TMI Blog1960 (5) TMI 32X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d August, 1952, the Agricultural Income-tax Officer made the assessment on "best judgment" basis and held that the assessee was liable to pay tax of ₹ 1,58,541-1-0. Against this order the assessee presented an appeal to the Deputy Commissioner of Agricultural Income-tax, but the appeal was dismissed on the ground that the assessee did not pay 12? per cent. of the tax assessed at or before the time of the presentation of the appeal. The Deputy Commissioner of Agricultural Income-tax applied the provision to section 25(1) of the Agricultural Income-tax Act, which reads as follows: "25. Appeal against assessment under this Act.--(1) Any assessee objecting to the amount of income assessed or the rate at which he is assess ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Agricultural Income-tax Act: "Whether, in the circumstances of the case, payment of a percentage of the tax, as prescribed in the Finance Act, 1951, was a condition precedent to the entertainment of the petition of appeal by the Deputy Commissioner, and whether the petition of appeal could be summarily rejected on the ground of the petitioner's failure to deposit the said sum in time?" On behalf of the assessee Mr. P.R. Das put forward the argument that the right of appeal was a substantive right and was not merely a matter of procedure, and the right of appeal, therefore, cannot be affected by a statute enacted retrospectively, unless a clear intention to that effect is manifested. It was submitted by learned counsel that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 86, 97. I do not accept the argument of Mr. P.R. Das as correct. The two authorities referred to by learned counsel, namely, Chatturam v. Commissioner of Income-tax [1947] 15 I.T.R. 302; [1947] F.C.R. 116 and Wallace Brothers and Co. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax [1948] 16 I.T.R. 240; L.R. 75 I.A. 86, 97 only deal with the question as to when the liability to pay the tax arises. That is not the question presented for determination in the present case. The question is at what point of time the right of appeal vests in the assessee. This question is manifestly different from the question as to when the liability to pay the tax arises. It may be conceded that the liability to pay the tax arose under the charging sections on the 31st Marc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ermining as to when the right of appeal became vested in the litigant. The same view has been expressed by S.R. Das J. in an earlier decision of the Supreme Court in Hoosein Kasam Dada (India) Ltd. v. State of Madhya Pradesh [1953] 4 S.T.C. 114, 124; [1953] S.C.R. 987; A.I.R. 1953 S.C. 221, 225. At page 999 of the report, the learned judge observed as follows: "Finally, Sri Ganapathy Iyer faintly urges that until actual assessment there can be no 'lis' and, therefore, no right of appeal can accrue before that event. There are two answers to this plea. Whenever there is a proposition by one party and an opposition to that proposition by another a 'lis' arises. It may be conceded, though not deciding it, that when the a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 19. (2) In the case of any person whose total agricultural income is, in the opinion of the Agricultural Income-tax Officer, of such an amount as to render such person liable to agricultural income-tax for any financial year, the Agricultural Income-tax Officer may serve in that year a notice upon him requiring him to furnish, within such period, not being less than thirty days, as may be specified in the notice, a return in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner setting forth, along with such other particulars as may be provided for in the notice, his total agricultural income during the previous year: Provided that the Agricultural Income-tax officer may, in his discretion, extend the date for the delivery of the retu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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