TMI Blog1975 (3) TMI 3X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t of the court was delivered by UNTWALIA J.-- These are 12 appeals filed by the appellant on grant of special leave by this court from the common judgment of the Rajasthan High Court allowing 12 criminal appeals filed by the respondent in accordance with section 417(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. The appellant as partner of his partnership firm filed 12 income-tax returns for various assessment years, the last one being the assessment year 1959-60. The returns were filed by the appellant between March 26, 1958, and October 16, 1961, in accordance with section 22(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922--hereinafter referred to as the 1922 Act. The said Act was repealed and replaced by the Income-tax Act, 1961--hereinafter call ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e, numerically the 24 complaints became 12 complaints for trial of the appellant under section 277 of the 1961 Act or section 52 of the 1922 Act, as the case may be. After the commencement of the trial the appellant in each case filed a petition before the City Magistrate that the launching of the prosecution against him was bad and void in view of the provisions of section 29(4) of the 1922 Act read with article 20(1) of the Constitution of India. The Magistrate felt persuaded to accept the stand taken on behalf of the appellant and held that he could not be prosecuted after imposition of penalty under the taxing statute and acquitted the appellant in all the cases. The High Court has held that since no penalty was imposed on the petiti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... assessment completed before the 1st day of April, 1962, may be initiated and any such penalty may be imposed as if this Act had not been passed ; (g) any proceeding for the imposition of a penalty in respect of any assessment for the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1962, or any earlier year, which is completed on or after the 1st day of April, 1962. may be initiated and any such penalty may be imposed under this Act. " All the 12 assessments although they related to the years earlier than the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1962, were completed after the coming into force of the 1961 Act. Hence a proceeding for the imposition of penalty in respect of any one of those years had to be and was initiated under the 1961 Act in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nalty is the date of such completion. " At page 264, says the learned judge further : " Both sections 271(1) and 297(2)(g) have to be read together and in harmony and so read the only conclusion possible is that for the imposition of a penalty in respect of any assessment for the year ending on March 31, 1962, or any earlier year which is completed after the first day of April, 1962, the proceedings have to be initiated and the penalty imposed in accordance with the provisions of section 271 of the Act of 1961. " Even clause (1) of article 20 of the Constitution does not help the appellant. It is not post facto legislation which is being pressed into service against him. As pointed out by a Constitution Bench of this court in Rao ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the 1961 Act the launching of the prosecution became permissible and was not hit by article 20(1) of the Constitution. We are inclined to think that the offence, if any, committed by the appellant was under section 52 of the 1922 Act as the allegedly false statements in declarations were made at a time when the said Act was in force. No false statement in any declaration seems to have been made under the 1961 Act to form the basis of a charge against the appellant under section 277 of that Act. The punishment provided in this section is greater than the one engrafted in section 52 of the 1922 Act. To that extent only the appellant would be entitled to press into service the second part of clause (1) of article 20 of the Constitution which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the consequences laid down in section 6 of the General Clauses Act will follow unless, as the section itself says, a different intention appears in the repealing statute. In the case of a simple repeal there is scarcely any room for expression of a contrary opinion. But when the repeal is followed by fresh legislation on the same subject the court would undoubtedly have to look to the provisions of the new Act, but only for the purpose of determining whether they indicate a different intention. The question is not whether the new Act expressly keeps alive old rights and liabilities but whether it manifests an intention to destroy them. Section 6 of the General Clauses Act, therefore, will be applicable unless the new legislation manifests a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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