TMI Blog1965 (12) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... conspicuous place in the court-house or at any conspicuous place in the income-tax office." The facts have been stated in the referring order, but I may briefly recapitulate them for our present purpose. The assessee, Seth Bal Kishan Dass was assessed originally in February, 1948. Later, the Income-tax Officer had reason to believe that certain immovable property and shares in companies acquired by the assessee during the accounting period had escaped assessment because the same had not been disclosed in the original return. A notice for personal service under section 34(1)(a) of the Indian Income-tax Act (No. XI of 1922) was accordingly issued to the assessee on March 28, 1956. On the same day, a notice was also issued by registered post ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d import. The counsel has referred us to the Oxford English Dictionary, according to which the word " court " means the place, hall or chamber in which justice is administered. The place where the Income-tax Officer holds assessment proceedings may well, according to the learned counsel, mean court-house. Stress has in this connection been laid on the argument that the department did not care to rely on the refusal by the assessee to accept the service of the notice when personally tendered to him by the process-server; nor did the department rely on the notice despatched by registered post, which though issued on March 28, 1956, was received by the assessee on April 2, 1956. Support for the challenge to the validity of the notice has been ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n more effective than affixation on the outer door of the residence of the assessee; and when the assessee had also declined to receive a copy of the notice, service of the notice should not be held to be invalid merely because of omission to affix a copy in the court-house or in the income-tax office. According to the counsel, Order V, rule 20, has to be construed in a practical way and being a rule of procedure, it should be so construed as to subserve the real purpose and should not be allowed to obstruct or defeat the cause of justice. The counsel has also controverted the submission urged on behalf of the assessee that the income-tax office should in the present context be considered to be a court-house within the contemplation of Orde ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the court without raising new and different questions to resettle or reaffirm the question formulated by the Tribunal before answering them so as to bring out the real issue between the parties. It is argued by Shri Awasthy that according to the decision of the Supreme Court in S. C. Prashar v. Vasantsen Dwarkadas, it is the date on which the notice is issued which is important for the purpose of determining the validity of reassessment from the point of view of the period of limitation postulated by section 34(1). If, therefore, the notice in the instant case was issued by registered post on March 28, 1956, then merely because it was actually received by the assessee on April 2, 1256, would not invalidate the notice on the ground of its ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... otice would be perfectly valid, and we so hold. Incidentally, I may point out that even under the Code of Civil Procedure, service can in the very first instance be effected by registered post as is clear from the proviso added by this court to rule 10 of Order V, Code of Civil Procedure. The objection that the question referred does not justify this court in taking the view we propose to take appears to me to be untenable. The question referred merely relates to the validity of the service of notice under section 34 and is not confined to the consideration of Order V, rule 20, Code of Civil Procedure, alone. In the statement of the case forwarded to this court by the Appellate Tribunal, the fact of a notice having been sent to the assesse ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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