TMI Blog2005 (7) TMI 78X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on 254(2), does not apply to an application filed by an assessee or the Revenue, is not acceptable - Held that an application for rectification of mistake in an order passed by the Tribunal has to be filed within four years from the date of the order and not at any time. – petition dismissed - - - - - Dated:- 4-7-2005 - Judge(s) : D. K. JAIN., HEMANT GUPTA. JUDGMENT The judgment of the court was delivered by D.K. Jain C.J.- By this writ petition under article 226 of the Constitution, the petitioner-assessee questions the legality of the order, dated April 19, 2004, passed by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench "B" (for short, "the Tribunal"), dismissing the miscellaneous applications filed by him. Under section 2 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e section has two limbs. The first limb empowers the Tribunal to pass an order of amendment within four years from the date of the order, on its own motion, i.e., suo motu, if there is a mistake apparent from the record, whereas the second limb casts a duty on the Tribunal to carry out a similar amendment if the mistake is brought to its notice by the assessee or the Revenue at any time. To buttress the argument, learned counsel has laid emphasis on the comma which appears after the expression "Tribunal may". The submission is that these words only suggest the time-limit of four years in the context of a suo motu rectification and not otherwise. In other words, according to learned counsel, in so far as filing of an application for rectific ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the record, amend any order passed by it under subsection (1), and shall make such amendment if the mistake is brought to its notice by the assessee or the Assessing Officer: Provided that an amendment which has the effect of enhancing an assessment or reducing a refund or otherwise increasing the liability of the assessee, shall not be made under this sub-section unless the Appellate Tribunal has given notice to the assessee of its intention to do so and has allowed the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard: Provided further that any application filed by the assessee in this sub-section on or after the 1st day of October, 1998, shall be accompanied by a fee of fifty rupees." The section specifically empowers the Tribunal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al to the following effect: "In selecting out of different interpretations 'the court will adopt that which is just, reasonable and sensible rather than that which is none of those things', as it may be presumed 'that the Legislature should have used the word in that interpretation which least offends our sense of justice'. The courts strongly lean against a construction which reduces the statute to a futility. A statute or any enacting provision therein must be so construed as to make it effective and operative 'on the principle expressed in the maxim : ut res magis valeat quam pereat'. If the language used is capable of bearing more than one construction, in selecting the true meaning regard must be had to the consequences resulting ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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