9911796707
TMI Blog1967 (9) TMI 9X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , 1955, to December 31, 1955. In those years the assessee, who is a dealer in and manufacturer of vessels out of stainless steel, copper and copper alloys and stainless steel scrap, had claimed business losses as under : 1955-56 1956-57 Rs. Rs. 4,05,905. 1,70,213. The Income-tax Officer, however, computed the loss for 1955-56 at Rs. 1,30,889 and the income for 1956-57, at Rs. 5,60,078. In the same years, the assessee had claimed that he had incurred speculation loss in respect of transactions entered into by way of speculation as a set-off against possible trading losses due to fluctuations in the market price of the metals which he had purchased. The Income-tax Officer disallowed these speculation losses as follows : 1955-56 1956-57 Rs. Rs. 4,05,905. 1,70,213. It will be noticed that these speculation losses which the assessee had claimed corresponded exactly to the figures of speculation loss in business. The Income-tax Officer, in disallowing these losses, had merely treated them as speculation losses and held that, " As this is a speculation loss, this will be carried forward separately to be set off against future speculation profits. " The assessee, however, went up ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Income-tax Officer stated : " I had sent a letter to the assessee asking to explain the position and the assessee's reply is on record. The reply, however, is not satisfactory and it would be necessary for me to go into great details in the trading account in order to determine whether there are actually any profits in the trading account due to the price fluctuations which would balance the alleged hedging loss." (The underlining is ours). When the matter was once again taken up on transfer by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Central Range, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner virtually accepted the request of the Income-tax Officer to set aside the assessments. In doing so, he observed that the hedging losses which the assessee claimed should have been allowed, were all incurred through a sister firm Messrs. Devidayal (Sales) Private Ltd., and that, therefore, the books of this allied concern required to be examined. He also observed that the bulk of the loss to him in the year 1954, was incurred in the months of October and November, that is to say, towards the close of the year, " when the results in ready trading could be more or less estimated with reasonable precisio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was an order passed with jurisdiction and ought not to be interfered with by the Tribunal. Counsel for the assessee, before the Tribunal, accepted the suggestion that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner may have acted with jurisdiction, but what he urged and principally urged was that in the circumstances it was not a proper order which the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had passed. This latter contention on behalf of the assessee was accepted by the Tribunal who gave the following finding : " Therefore we consider that in the facts and circumstances of this case, while undoubtedly the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had the power to set aside the assessment and direct the Income-tax Officer to make such investigation as he may direct, that power should be judiciously exercised in the facts and circumstances of each case. At no time the genuineness of the trading accounts having been disputed, the Income-tax Officer at the original stage having scrutinized, considered and accepted the same, it is unnecessary to rip open the trading accounts. Even in the remand he has not discovered any serious laches. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner's order setting aside the assessment wi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the Tribunal is concerned, there can be no doubt that the Tribunal had the jurisdiction to pass the order which it did. The power is conferred upon the Tribunal in the widest possible terms by section 33(4) by the words " pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit ". We cannot conceive of words of wider amplitude than these words and indeed the Supreme Court has, in a recent decision in Hukumchand Mills Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax, said so in terms. They have held that " the powers of the Appellate Tribunal in dealing with appeals are expressed in section 33(4) of the Income-tax Act in the widest possible terms. The word ' therein ' in section 33(4) restricts the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to the subject-matter of the appeal. The words ' pass such order as the Tribunal thinks fit ' include all the powers (except possibly the power of enhancement) which are conferred on the Appellate Assistant Commissioner by section 31. Consequently, the Tribunal has authority under section 33 to direct the Appellate Assistant Commissioner or the Income-tax Officer to hold a further enquiry and dispose of the case on the basis of such enquiry. " Now what is it that the Tribunal has done ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
