9911796707
TMI Blog1960 (9) TMI 11X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the appellant company, praying for the issue of an appropriate order or direction in the nature of a writ of mandamus to compel the Income-tax Officer, Bhopal, respondent herein, to carry out certain directions given by the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Bombay, to the said officer in an appeal preferred by the appellant company from an order of assessment made against it by the respondent. The relevant facts are these. The appellant company carries on the business of manufacturing and selling sugar in various grades and quantities. It has its factory at Sehore which was formerly in the Bhopal State and is now situate in the State of Madhya Pradesh. It purchased sugarcane from local cultivators and also grew its own sugarcane in farms si ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... te, of Rs. 1-6-0 per maund ; thus according to this computation there was a loss of Rs. 44,772 and the respondent held in his assessment order that the appellant company was not entitled to claim any deduction of agricultural income for the assessment year. The appellant company then appealed to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, Jubbalpore, who determined the market value of the sugarcane grown on the appellant company's own farms at Rs. 10,07,132 at the rate of Rs. 1-7-9 per maund. This resulted in an agricultural income of Rs. 29,360, which the Appellate Assistant Commissioner allowed to be deducted from the total income of the appellant company. Not satisfied with the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, the appellant c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n its own farms. If the market value comes to more than Rs. 1-7-9 per maund further relief to the necessary extent will be given by the Income-tax Officer. If, however, the market value is less than Rs. 1-7-9 the appeal must fail." The Commissioner of Income-tax then applied to the Tribunal for a reference under section 66(1) of the Income-tax Act, stating that a question of law arose out of the Tribunal's order inasmuch as the Tribunal was not justified, in the opinion of the Department, to add average transport charges to the price of Rs. 1-4-6 per maund of sugarcane grown by the appellant company. This application was, however, withdrawn on August 4, 1954. The order of the Tribunal thus became final and was binding on the parties. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f the Tribunal's order as per their finding given in paragraph 8 of the order results in no relief being given to you." It is worthy of note here that while the Tribunal had directed the respondent to ascertain the average transport charges from the centres to the factory, the respondent referred to the cost of transportation from the farms to the factory. Clearly enough, the respondent misread the direction of the Tribunal and failed to carry it out. He proceeded on a basis which was in contravention of the direction of the Tribunal. In these circumstances, the appellant company moved the Judicial Commissioner, Bhopal, then exercising the powers of a High Court for that area, for the issue of a writ to compel the respondent to carry ou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nate tribunal refuses to carry out directions given to it by a superior tribunal in the exercise of its appellate powers, the result will be chaos in the administration of justice and we have indeed found it very difficult to appreciate the process of reasoning by which the learned Judicial Commissioner while roundly condemning the respondent for refusing to carry out the directions of the superior tribunal, yet held that no manifest injustice resulted from such refusal. It must be remembered that the order of the Tribunal dated April 22, 1954, was not under challenge before the Judicial Commissioner. That order had become final and binding on the parties, and the respondent could not question it in any way. As a matter of fact the Commis ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1-4-6 per maund of sugarcane ". The direction is clear and unambiguous. The respondent instead of ascertaining the average transport charges per maund from the centres to the factory, referred to the transport charges from the farms to the factory and on that footing disregarded the directions of the Tribunal ; for the respondent to say thereafter that the order of the Tribunal was not intelligible betrays a regrettable lack of candour. We must, therefore, reject the argument of learned counsel for the respondent. The learned Judicial Commissioner referred to three decisions in support of the proposition that a direction or order in the nature of a writ of mandamus cannot be claimed as of right, nor need such a writ issue for every omiss ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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