TMI Blog1966 (6) TMI 6X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ly completed and the tax due and payable in pursuance of the various assessment orders passed against him, had been paid by him and no amount of tax is due from him. The petitioner, however, has filed his return for the assessment years 1962-63 and 1963-64. The point raised by Mr. D. Pal, appearing for the petitioner, is that section 142 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as " the Act " ), deals with the powers of the Income-tax Officer to direct an assessee to produce books of accounts and also to furnish in writing information on such matters as the Income-tax Officer may require. But this power of the Income-tax Officer, Mr. Pal argued, was subject to the power imposed by clause (b) of the proviso to sub-section (1) o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the Income-tax Act, 196 1. " In the body of the notice there is a direction upon the petitioner to attend at the office of the Income-tax Officer on a particular day and at a particular hour and this is followed by a direction to produce the books of accounts for the years mentioned at the bottom of the notice, namely, 1955, 1956, 1957 and 1958. The notice does not purport to be a notice under section 142 of the Act, but quite clearly it specifies that it is a notice under section 131. This section confers upon the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the Commissioner the powers that are vested in a court under the Code of Civil Procedure with regard to discovery and inspection, enforcing attendance of any person ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erred by section 131 of the Act upon the Income-tax Officer, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the Commissioner. It seems to me that Mr. Mitter's contentions are wellfounded. The scope of section 142 of the Act is quite plainly limited to the enquiry before assessment by the Income-tax Officer. Section 131, on the other hand, confers upon the several officers mentioned in sub-section (1) thereof, the powers enumerated in clauses (a), (b), (c) and (d) thereof. It was next contended by Mr. Pal that section 131 of the Act merely enumerated the powers which were being conferred on the several officers mentioned in sub-section (1) of the Act. He argued that this section did not deal with the scope or, the extent of the power to be exe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Officer the power of a civil court, he cannot exercise such powers except subject to the limitations under the proviso to section 142, would have the inevitable consequence of depriving the Income-tax Officer of the power to call for books of accounts of an assessee which the legislature expressly conferred upon him. In support of his contention Mr. Mitter relied upon the Full Bench decision of the Madras High Court in T. M. M. Sankaralinga Nadar and Brothers v. Commissioner of Income-tax. In that case, the Full Bench of the Madras High Court considered the same question which was raised under the earlier Income-tax Act of 1922. In that case also the question, as whether the Income-tax Officer could call for the production of the accou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Act, would have the effect of nullifying the provision in the statute by which the power has been conferred upon the several officers mentioned in sub-section (1) of section 131 of the Act. The Full Bench of the Madras High Court was followed by the Nagpur High Court in a decision in Fateh Chand Chhakodilal v. Commissioner of Income-tax. The question referred to the court in that case was whether the Income-tax Officer was entitled to call for accounts of more than three years back. This question was answered in the affirmative after relying upon the decision of the Full Bench of the Madras High Court. It seems to me that the power conferred upon the Income-tax Officer to call for the account books under section 131 of the Act can ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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