1974 (4) TMI 15

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..... o the Appellate Tribunal under the Act for making a reference to this court as provided under section 256(1) thereof. The second appellate order was claimed to have been served on March 6, 1972, and since an application under section 256(1) lies if filed within 60 days thereof, the application for reference filed on May 5, 1972, was claimed to be in time. The Tribunal found that the appellate orde .....

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..... cted against the said order. Mr. Mohanty for the assessee contends that when the assessee had taken a definite stand that the date put in the acknowledgment due was a mistake and produced a certificate from the Postmaster of the concerned post office to show that the registered letter was actually delivered on March 6, 1972, an enquiry was called for. The Appellate Tribunal acting as a quasi-judi .....

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..... he Postmaster's certificate. According to the learned standing counsel, the entire matter relates to appreciation of evidence with reference to documents. He relies upon a decision of the Supreme Court in, Nagendra Nath Bora v. Commissioner of Hills Division in support of his contention that the jurisdiction under article 226 of the Constitution is not appellate or revisional, and in a case of thi .....

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..... l required that there should have been an enquiry to find out the truth. If ultimately the assessee's stand turns out to be false, certainly appropriate action against the assessee was called for. But before the assessee's stand could be levelled as erroneous, in our view an enquiry was warranted. Between two competing materials placed before the Tribunal each of which was available to be relied u .....

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..... h 6, 1972, the Tribunal is called upon to institute an enquiry giving full opportunity to the assessee to establish his case that he actually received it on March 6, 1972. If the assessee fails to establish his case it would be open to the Tribunal to take appropriate action in law. The writ application is allowed. The order rejecting the reference as barred by limitation is vacated and the Tribun .....

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