TMI Blog1964 (3) TMI 11X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Appeal dismissed. - Civil Appeals Nos. 142 and 143 of 1963 - - - Dated:- 31-3-1964 - Judge(s) : K. SUBBA RAO., J. C. SHAH., S. M. SIKRI JUDGMENT The judgment of the court was delivered by SUBBA RAO J.----These two appeals filed by special leave raise the question of the true construction of the provisions of section 4 of the Indian Income-tax (Amendment) Act, 1959 (1 of 1959), hereinafter called the Amending Act. The material facts lie in a small compass and they are as follows. For the assessment year 1947-48 the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 142 of 1963 filed a return of her income before the Income-tax Officer, District IV, Calcutta, and the assessment was completed some time in 1948 as a result whereof it was found that no tax was payable by her. On April 2, 1956, the Income-tax Officer served on her a notice dated March 19, 1956, under section 34(1) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, hereinafter called the Act, on the ground of escaped assessment. The date of the notice fell within 8 years from the end of the relevant assessment year, i.e., March 31, 1948, but it was served beyond 8 years from that date and, therefore, was clearly out of time under the provi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (a) The Income-tax Officer has reason to believe that by reason of the omission or failure on the part of an assessee to make a return of his income under section 22 for any year or to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for his assessment for that year, income, profits or gains chargeable to income-tax have escaped assessment for that year, or have been underassessed, or assessed at too low a rate, or have been made the subject of excessive relief under the Act, or excessive loss or depreciation allowance has been computed, or (b) he may in cases falling under clause (a) at any time within eight years . . . . serve on the assessee . . . . a notice containing all or any of the requirements which may be included in a notice under sub-section (2) of section 22 and may proceed to assess or reassess such income, profits or gains or recompute the loss or depreciation allowance ; and the provisions of this Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly as if the notice were a notice issued under that sub-section . . . Provided that where a notice under sub-section (1) has been issued within the time therein limited, the assessment or reassessment to be made in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... . C. observed : " In the words of Rowlatt J ............... in a taxing Act one has to look merely at what is clearly said. There is no room for any intendment. There is no equity about a tax. The is no presumption as to a tax. Nothing is to be read in, nothing is to be implied. One can only look fairly at the language used." In other words, a taxing statute must be couched in express and unambiguous language. The same rule of construction has been accepted by this court in Gursahai Saigal v. Commissioner of Income-tax, wherein it was stated : " ..... it is well recognised that the rule of construction that if a case is not covered within the four corners of the provisions of a taxing statute, no tax can be imposed by inference or by analogy or by trying to probe into the intentions of the legislature and by considering what was the substance of the matter, applies only to a taxing provision and has no application to all provisions in a taxing statute. It does not apply to a provision not creating a charge for the tax but laying down the machinery for its calculation or procedure for its collection. The provisions in a taxing statute dealing with machinery for assessment h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 59, therefore, was enacted for the sole purpose of saving the validity of such notices in respect of all escaped incomes relating to any year commencing from the year ending on March 31, 1941, though they were issued beyond the prescribed time. If the construction sought to be placed by the learned counsel for the appellants be accepted, it would defeat the purpose of the amendment in some cases. If the words were clear and exclude the class of cases where the notices were sent before 8 years from the date of assessment, but served thereafter, this court has to give them the said meaning. This brings us to the question of construction of the provisions of section 4 of the Amending Act. The crucial word in the said section is " issued ". The section says that though a notice was issued beyond the time within which such notice should have been issued, its validity could not be questioned. If the word " issued " means " sent ", we find that there is no provision in the Act prescribing a time-limit for sending a notice, for, under section 34(1)(a) of the Act, a notice could be served only within 8 years from the relevant assessment year. It does not provide any period for sending of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... doubtful meaning has received a clear judicial interpretation, the subsequent statute which incorporates the same word or the same phrase in a similar context, must be construed so that the word or phrase is interpreted according to the meaning that has previously been assigned to it." Section 4 of the Amending Act was enacted for saving the validity of notices issued under section 34(1) of the Act. When that section used a word interpreted by courts in the context of such notices it would be reasonable to assume that the expression was designedly used in the same sense. That apart, the expressions " issued " and " served " are used as interchangeable terms both in dictionaries and in other statutes. The dictionary meaning of the word " issue " is " the act of sending out, put into circulation, delivery with authority or delivery". Section 27 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 (X of 1897), reads thus : " Where any Central Act or Regulation made after the commencement of this Act authorises or requires any document to be served by post, whether the expression ' serve ' or either of the expressions, ' give ' or ' send ', or any other expression is used, then, unless a different i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d : though it was served beyond time, if the assessment was completed, its validity could not be questioned. The result would be that the validity of an assessment proceeding would depend upon the stage at which the assessee seeks to question it. That could not have been the intention of the legislature. All these anomalies would disappear if the expression was given the wider meaning. To summarize : The clear intention of the legislature is to save the validity of the notice as well as the assessment from an attack on the ground that the notice was given beyond the prescribed period. That intention would be effectuated if the wider meaning is given to the expression " issued ". The dictionary meaning of the expression " issued " takes in the entire process of sending the notice as well as the service thereof. The said word used in section 34(1) of the Act itself was interpreted by courts to mean " served ". The limited meaning, namely, " sent " will exclude from the operation of the provision a class of cases and introduce anomalies. In the circumstances, by interpretation, we accept the wider meaning the word " issued " bears. In this view, though the notices were served beyon ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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