TMI Blog1984 (9) TMI 13X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ven though it was not served on the assessee, when the order could not be said to exist unless communicated to the party ? Facts necessary for answering this question are that late Smt. Lilabai Matkar made a gift of a house bearing municipal No. 5, Ramlaxman Bazar, Indore, to her married daughter, Smt. Jijeebai Shinde, by a registered gift deed dated April 28, 1971. The value of the property was declared at Rs. 2 2,000. By another gift deed dated April 28, 1971, the late Smt. Lilabai Matkar gifted a house at Sirpur to Shri Chandrakant Shinde and in the gift deed, this house was valued at Rs. 3,000. On the death of Smt. Lilabai Matkar on December 27, 1971, the applicant, Smt. Jijeebai Shinde, filed gift-tax returns on May 30, 1972, and a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... opal on March 28, 1981, a request made by the assessee's advocate for an adjournment for a fortnight was rejected and by an order passed on March 30, 1981 (annexure-A), the Commissioner of Gift-tax set aside the order of assessment passed by the Gift-tax Officer and directed him to make a fresh assessment according to law. The assessee preferred an appeal before the Tribunal, which stands dismissed by order dated June 15, 1982. Thereafter; by an application, the assessee sought a reference to this, court and the Tribunal has referred the following question of law for our answer: " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the CGT had jurisdiction to set aside the alleged order of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , would not necessitate any further proceedings. If, however, the award made under section 12 of the Land Acquisition Act is not acceptable, section 18 of the said Act gives a statutory right to the owner or the person interested in the land acquired to have the question of compensation determined by court. While dealing with these provisions, their Lordships of the Supreme Court observed that the necessary concomitant of making of the award must also involve the communication thereof to the party concerned. It was in this context that their Lordships made the following observations (p. 1503): " Thus considered, the date of the award cannot be determined solely by reference to the time when the award is signed by the Collector or delivere ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of his right to have such books and documents returned to him by being kept ignorant about the factum of fulfilment of either of the conditions, it is obligatory upon the Revenue to communicate the Commissioner's approval as also the recorded reasons to the person concerned. In the absence of such communication, the Commissioner's decision according his approval will not become effective." Shri Chaudhary invited our attention to the case of CIT v. Mahabir Prasad Poddar [1974] 93 ITR 215 (Cal) and contended that communication of the order passed by the assessing authority to the assessee is a must. In this case, their Lordships of the Calcutta High Court were considering the implication of section 132(8) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, relati ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ication of an order passed by the assessing authority to the assessee concerned. It is not in dispute that the assessment order dated March 30, 1979, was not served on the assessee at least till the time the Commissioner of Gift-tax initiated proceedings under section 24(2) of the Act. It is thus clear that there was no valid assessment order communicated to the assessee in existence so as to entitle the Commissioner to invoke the jurisdiction under section 24(2) of the Act and exercise powers of suo motu revision therein. Learned counsel for the Revenue contends that on a plain reading of section 15 of the Act, it does not provide for communication of the assessment order to the assessee. His further contention is that at any rate the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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