TMI Blog1981 (11) TMI 54X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ership. For the assessment year 1969, the previous year ended on March 31, 1969, the assessee filed two returns and in respect of the first period claimed renewal of the registration and for the latter period a fresh registration. The ITO being of the opinion that there was a change in the constitution of the firm with effect from August 20, 1968, made one assessment for the entire year in the status of a registered firm. The income of the two periods aforesaid was allocated amongst the partners of the firm as existing during the two periods respectively and allowed renewal of registration under s. 184(7) for the first period and for the second period allowed fresh registration under s. 185(1)(a) of the Act. No appeal was filed against th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the ratio of the decision of the Allahabad High Court suffers from a glaring or obvious mistake of law. Since this question was highly contentious, recourse to s. 154 of the Act was not justifiable. Now, at the instance of the assessee, the Appellate Tribunal has referred the following question of law to this court. " Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the provisions of section 154 were not applicable in this case ? " We have already narrated the facts of the case above and it would be seen that in view of the decisions of this court in Dahi Laxmi Dal Factory [1976] 103 ITR 517 [FB], CIT v. Kunj Behari Shyam Lal [1977] 109 ITR 154 [FB], the controversy stands concluded th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lined to agree with Sri Katju. In T. S. Balaram, ITO v. Volkart Brothers [1971] 82 ITR 50 (SC), of course it has been laid down that a mistake apparent on the record must be an obvious and patent mistake and not something which can be established by a long drawn process of reasoning on points on which there may conceivably be two opinions. A decision on a debatable point of law, is not mistake apparent from the record. This decision is, however, not applicable to the situation obtaining in the present case because the law, in so far as this State is concerned, stands settled by the decisions of this court in Dahi Laxmi Dal Factory [1976] 103 ITR 517 [FB] and Kunj Behari Shyam Lal [1977] 109 ITR 154 [FB]. The ITO was, therefore, bound to app ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a decision that shows an existing assessment order to be erroneous; and if the argument is taken to its logical extreme, the Income-tax Officer should be able to take note of any judicial pronouncement by any court or tribunal, when considering whether there is a 'mistake apparent from the record' of prior assessment. The Gujarat High Court in CIT v. Ramjibhai Hirjibhai Sons [1977] 110 ITR 411 did not approve of the view taken by the Tribunal that in view of the divergence of judicial opinion between some High Courts it could not be said that the provisions of section 154 would be applicable on the facts of the case and held that one of the reasons for that was that there was no scope for debate on the question involved in view of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or a reference to the High Court. On an application to the High Court under s. 256(2) of the Act, it was held that the I.T. authorities, so long as the decision in Brij Bushan Lal stood, were bound to follow the rule laid down therein. It was observed (p. 586 of 114 ITR) : " As the point in issue was no more debatable, the Tribunal was not justified in refusing to refer the question noted above on the basis of the decision of the Supreme Court in T. S. Balaram's case [1971] 82 ITR 50. " It would appear, therefore, that the I.T. authorities situated within the jurisdiction of a particular High Court are bound by its decisions and simply because some other courts have taken a different view, it would not be correct to say that that issue ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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