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Mohd. Ahsan Wani v. Commissioner Of Income-Tax.

Jammu and Kashmir High Court
Jul 12, 1976
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Structured Summary of the Legal Opinion (Ansari, C.J.)

Factual and Procedural Background

The matter concerns the assessment year 1966-67 (accounting year ending 31 March 1966). An original assessment for that year had been completed on a total income of Rs. 68,539. The assessment was thereafter reopened under section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, and the assessee filed a return declaring a loss of Rs. 59,519.

During reassessment proceedings the Income-tax Officer (ITO) called upon the assessee to explain the source of (a) a fixed deposit receipt of Rs. 75,000 purchased on 6 September 1965, and (b) Rs. 5,000 shown paid to one of the assessee's wives. The assessee said he had taken loans totalling Rs. 80,000 from three family members (Rs. 20,000 from his wife Teja Begum, and Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 25,000 from his two minor sons, Nazir Ahmad and Javeed Ahmad). Those three persons had made declarations on 25 January 1966 under section 24(1) of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1965 (the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme).

The ITO rejected the explanation, considering the declarants (a pardanashin wife and two minors) to have no independent source and treated the Rs. 80,000 as the assessee's income from undisclosed sources. Separately, from examination of the firm's accounts, the ITO also treated an amount of Rs. 29,464 as income from undisclosed sources. The reassessment was completed on a total income of Rs. 2,01,485.

The assessee appealed to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner (AAC). The AAC set aside the assessment and directed the ITO to make a fresh assessment in accordance with law, on multiple grounds stated in the AAC's order (including a claimed omission of notice under section 143(2), the need to allow the assessee to substantiate loans independently of his books, redetermination of property income, and clarification of agricultural income facts).

The assessee appealed the AAC's order to the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal). The Tribunal rejected the assessee's two main contentions (that the ITO could not investigate amounts declared under section 24, and that the AAC had exceeded his powers) and upheld the AAC's order. The Tribunal referred three questions to this court under section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961.

The three questions referred by the Tribunal (as recorded) were: (1) whether the AAC was legally competent to set aside the assessment and direct a de novo assessment; (2) whether there was any link between the amounts declared under section 24(1) by the three declarants and the Rs. 85,000 alleged to have been advanced by them to the assessee on 6 September 1965; and (3) whether the Tribunal rightly upheld the impugned order of the AAC. The Court (Ansari, C.J.) reframed question No. 2 to better reflect the real controversy between the parties (see the Legal Issues section).

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was legally competent to set aside the assessment and direct the Income-tax Officer to make the assessment de novo (as asked by the Tribunal).
  2. Whether, in law and on the facts, the Tribunal was right in upholding the AAC's order with regard to the addition of Rs. 80,000 as the assessee's undisclosed income (this is the question specified by the Court as a reframe of the Tribunal's original question No. 2).
  3. Whether the Tribunal correctly upheld the impugned order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner (as asked by the Tribunal), the Court noting that this question was covered by its answers to the first two questions.

Arguments of the Parties

Assessee's Arguments

  • The assessee contended that it was not open to the Income-tax Officer or the Appellate Assistant Commissioner to investigate the source of amounts declared under section 24 of the Finance Act (the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme), because the declarations (and tax paid thereon) operate as a bar to such reinvestigation.
  • The assessee further contended that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had acted in excess of his powers in directing a fresh assessment in respect of sources or material not considered by the Income-tax Officer in the reassessment, or which related to other assessment years.

Revenue / Income-tax Officer's Position

  • The ITO treated the Rs. 80,000 cash credits (recorded in the assessee's books in the names of his wife and two minor sons) as the assessee's income from undisclosed sources, concluding the declarants had no independent source of income.
  • The ITO also treated Rs. 29,464, identified from scrutiny of partnership imprest account and cash flows, as income of the assessee from undisclosed sources.
  • Before the Tribunal, the revenue opposed the contentions that the section 24 declarations were immune from investigation and that the AAC had exceeded his powers; the Tribunal sided with the AAC and the revenue on those points (subject to the present Court's consideration).

Table of Precedents Cited

Precedent Rule or Principle Cited For Application by the Court
Manilal Gafoorbhai Shah v. Commissioner Of Income-Tax, Gujarat, [1974] 95 ITR 624 (Guj) Held that immunity against investigation under section 24 was given to the declarant and not to another person; department could investigate the source of the declared amount when assessing a different person. Not followed by this Court on the key question: the Court discussed this decision as representing a different view among High Courts but ultimately disagreed with its conclusion on the facts and statutory interpretation in this case.
Badri Pd. & Sons v. Commissioner of Income-tax, [1975] 98 ITR 657 (All) Expressed a similar view to the Gujarat High Court that the Finance Act did not convert the income of the person behind the screen into the income of the declarant. Not followed; cited as part of the division of judicial opinion which the Court considered before adopting the contrary reasoning from the Delhi High Court and S. Teja Singh principle.
Rattan Lal & Others v. Income Tax Officer … S, [1975] 98 ITR 681 (Delhi) Held that sub-section (3)'s legal fiction ("as if such amount were the total income of the declarant") turns the declared amount into the declarant's total income and that the declared amount cannot be taxed again as someone else's income. The Court agreed with the Delhi High Court's reasoning and followed it to hold that the department could not reinvestigate the source of amounts declared under section 24 (even though declared in another person's name) for purposes of adding the amount to the assessee's income.
Commissioner Of Income Tax, Delhi v. S. Teja Singh, [1959] 35 ITR 408 (SC) Rule of interpretation concerning legal fictions: in construing a legal fiction it is proper to assume the facts on which the fiction can operate. Applied as a foundational interpretive principle to support the Delhi High Court's conclusion that the legislative fiction in sub-section (3) must be read as making the declared amount the declarant's income for the prescribed purposes, thereby preventing reopening for taxation as another person's income.
Commissioner Of Income Tax v. McMillan & Co, [1958] 33 ITR 182 (SC) Approved Chagla C.J.'s observations (in Narrondas's case) that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner is a revising authority with wide powers to revise the process leading to assessment—not just the numerical computation. Quoted as authority for the breadth of the AAC's revisional powers, subject to limits discussed in later cases; used in the Court's analysis of AAC powers.
Narrondas Manorclass v. Commissioner of Income-tax, [1957] 31 ITR 909 (Bom) Observation (Chagla C.J.) that the AAC can revise the processes leading to assessment and revise various decisions made by the ITO in the course of assessment. Adopted (via McMillan's approval) to describe the revisional character of the AAC's jurisdiction; the Court used it to frame the initial scope of AAC powers before considering limitations.
Commissioner of Income-tax v. Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, [1962] 44 ITR 891 (SC) Explained the limitations on AAC powers: although the AAC has revisional powers, it cannot, in enhancing assessment, travel outside the record (the return and the ITO's assessment order) to discover entirely new sources of income without remand or following special procedures for escaped income. Relied upon to qualify the scope of the AAC's powers: the Court held that AAC could remit for fresh assessment in respect of sources considered by the ITO but could not direct assessment of sources not considered or based on material not considered by the ITO.
Commissioner of Income-tax v. Rai Bahadur Hardutroy Motilal Chamaria, [1967] 66 ITR 443 (SC) Confirmed that the AAC has no jurisdiction under section 31(3) to assess a source of income which has not been processed by the ITO or which does not appear from the return or the assessment order; power of enhancement is restricted to subject-matter considered by the ITO. Applied to conclude that the AAC could not lawfully direct assessment on sources outside the record or direct assessment based on materials which the ITO had not considered; used to delimit the AAC's directions in the present case.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The Court proceeded in two main strands of analysis corresponding to the reframed question about the Rs. 80,000 addition and the question about the AAC's powers.

Interpretation of Section 24(1) of the Finance Act — the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme

  • The Court set out the text of section 24(1) and related sub-sections (noting particularly sub-section (3), sub-section (9), sub-section (10) and sub-section (11)).
  • The Court summarized the scheme's features: declarations made within the specified period permit persons who had not disclosed income in earlier years to declare such income and pay tax at the special concessional rates prescribed; the declared amounts are accepted by the department without investigation into source and taxed as the declarant's income for the assessment year commencing 1 April 1965; tax paid is not refundable; the declared amount cannot be included in the declarant's income for any other assessment year and cannot be used to subject the declarant to a higher rate in the same assessment year.
  • From these features the Court derived the consequence that it makes no difference, for the operation of the scheme, whether the amount declared truly represented the declarant's income or the income of some other person: the statutory scheme and its legal fiction operate to treat the declared sum as the declarant's income for the specified purposes.
  • The Court considered the division of High Court authority (Gujarat and Allahabad taking the contrary view; Delhi taking the view that the legal fiction converts the declared amount into the declarant's income) and applied the interpretive rule from Commissioner of Income Tax v. S. Teja Singh that, in construing a legal fiction, one must assume the facts on which the fiction operates.
  • Following the Delhi High Court's reasoning and the S. Teja Singh principle, the Court held that sub-section (3)'s legal fiction renders the declared amount the declarant's income for the specified taxing purpose, and therefore it could not be taxed again as the income of another person. Consequently, the ITO could not investigate the source of the Rs. 80,000 cash credits recorded in the assessee's books under the names of his wife and minor sons for the purpose of adding that amount to the assessee's income.

Scope of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's Powers (Section 251(1)(a) of the Act)

  • The Court quoted section 251(1)(a) (powers of the AAC) and the Explanation allowing the AAC to consider matters arising out of the proceedings even if not raised by the appellant.
  • It reviewed precedents establishing both the breadth of the AAC's revisional powers (Narrondas; McMillan) and the limitations on those powers (Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry; Chamaria).
  • Applying those authorities, the Court concluded that while the AAC is a revising authority able to set aside an assessment and remit for fresh assessment in relation to sources that the ITO considered, the AAC cannot lawfully direct assessment in respect of sources which the ITO did not consider or direct assessment on the basis of material which the ITO had not considered. If a new source of escaped income is to be brought to tax, statutory procedures for escaped income must be followed rather than substituting the AAC's power for those procedures.
  • The Court examined the AAC's order in this case and found certain directions either unnecessary (e.g., to have the loans proved independently in view of the Court's conclusion on section 24) or unjustified (e.g., setting aside the assessment on the supposed ground that no section 143(2) notice was issued when the record showed otherwise). It further noted that some directions (such as redetermining property income on the basis of net wealth statements and capital accretion or requiring earlier years' agricultural particulars) would require reliance on materials not considered by the ITO and therefore fell outside the AAC's proper scope; such directions should be ignored by the ITO.

Disposition of the Third Question

The Court stated that its answers to the first two questions covered the Tribunal's third question (whether the Tribunal rightly upheld the AAC's order) and accordingly gave no separate answer to question No. 3.

Holding and Implications

Core Rulings:

  • On the addition of Rs. 80,000: The Court held (answering the reframed question No. 2 in the negative) that the Income-tax Officer was not entitled to investigate the source of amounts declared by third parties under section 24(1) of the Finance Act nor to treat those declared amounts, which had been accepted under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme, as the assessee's undisclosed income. The declaration under section 24(1) and the statutory scheme precluded such reinvestigation for taxation of the same sum as another person's income.
  • On the Appellate Assistant Commissioner's powers (question No. 1): The AAC was legally competent to set aside the assessment and to direct the Income-tax Officer to make a fresh assessment with respect to income from sources that had been considered by the Income-tax Officer. However, the AAC was not legally competent to direct assessment in respect of sources which had not been considered by the Income-tax Officer, nor to direct assessment based upon material which had not been considered by the Income-tax Officer.
  • On question No. 3: The Court's answers to questions Nos. 1 and 2 determined the correctness of the Tribunal's upholding of the AAC's order; no separate answer was given.

Practical Consequences and Implications:

  • The Rs. 80,000 recorded as cash credits in the assessee's books in the names of his wife and minor sons, declared under section 24(1) of the Finance Act and assessed as declared income of those declarants, could not be reopened or treated as the assessee's undisclosed income by the ITO. The Voluntary Disclosure Scheme, as interpreted by the Court, operates to bar such reinvestigation for the purpose of charging that sum as someone else's income.
  • The AAC's power to remit for fresh assessment is confirmed as broad with respect to matters that were within the ITO's consideration, but constrained so as not to be used to create new assessments on sources or materials outside the ITO's record. Directions by an AAC that would require the ITO to act on materials not considered by the ITO or to bring in new sources should be ignored and, if necessary, remand should be used or the correct statutory procedure for escaped income followed.
  • The Court made no order as to costs.

Additional Procedural/Author Information

The opinion was delivered by Ansari, C.J. The judgment record shows Mian Jalaluddin, J. agreed with the opinion. The Tribunal had referred three questions under section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for the Court's determination.

End of summary — based exclusively on the content of the provided opinion.

Show all summary ...

Ansari, C.J:— The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Amritsar Bench (hereinafter referred to as “the Tribunal”), has referred the following three questions to this court under section 256(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”):

“1. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in holding that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was legally competent to set aside the assessment and direct the Income-tax Officer to make the assessment de novo?

2. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in law in holding that there was no link between the amounts declared by Teja Begum Nazir Ahmad and Javeed Ahmad on January 25, 1966, under section 24(1) of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1965, and the amount of Rs. 85,000 alleged to have been advanced by them to the assessee on September 6, 1965?

3. Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal has rightly upheld the impugned order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner?”

2. The assessment year under reference is the year 1966-67, the relevant accounting year being the year ending 31st March, 1966. The original assessment for this year was completed on a total income of Rs. 68,539. The original assessment was reopened and a notice under section 148 of the Act was issued and in response to the said notice the assessee filed a return of income declaring a loss of Rs. 59,519. During the previous assessment proceedings, the assessee was called upon to explain the source of a fixed deposit receipt of Rs. 75,000 which had been purchased by him from the National & Grindlay's Bank Ltd. on September 6, 1965, and also of Rs. 5,000 which was shown to have been paid by him to one of his wives, Shrimati Zaina Begum. The assessee explained that he had taken loans from his other wife and minor sons as follows:

Rs. 1. Shrimati Teja Begum 20,000 2. Nazir Ahmad (minor son) 35,000 3. Javeed Ahmad (minor son) 25,000 Total 80,000

3. It was further explained by the assessee that the above three creditors had declared the respective amounts shown against them on January 25, 1966, under section 24 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1965 (Act 15 of 1965) (hereinafter referred to as “as the Finance Act”). The Income-tax Officer did not accept the explanation of the assessee as in his view one of the alleged creditors was a pardanashin lady and the other two were minors who had no independent source of income. The Income-tax Officer, therefore, treated the amount of Rs. 80,000 as income of the assessee himself from undisclosed sources.

4. The assessee was also a financing partner in the firm of Mohd. Ahsan Wani & Co., Srinagar. On a scrutiny of the accounts of his firm, it was found that on November 20, 1965, the assessee was in possession of Rs. 99,926 in the imprest account. The assessee had purchased a fixed deposit of Rs. 1,00,934 on May 26, 1964, and the cash balance as on November 20, 1965, was nil. On December 26, 1965, the assessee was shown as being in possession of Rs. 53,432. The expenditure was, however, shown at Rs. 69,278. It was thus found that on December 21, 1965, the assessee had spent Rs. 53,218 against the available cash of Rs. 23,754. It was, therefore, found that the assessee had spent Rs. 29,464 in excess of the receipts. The Income-tax Officer did not accept the explanation offered by the assessee and he treated this amount of Rs. 29,464 as the income of the assessee from undisclosed sources. The reassessment for the year 1966-67 was completed on a total income of Rs. 2,01,485.

5. The assessee preferred an appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner of Income-tax against the reassessment made by the Income-tax Officer. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner set aside the assessment made by the Income-tax Officer and directed the Income-tax Officer to make a fresh assessment in accordance with law. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner passed the said order on the following grounds:

(1) The assessment was made under section 143(3) without the issue of a notice under section 143(2) of the Act.

(2) It was necessary to give the assessee an opportunity to prove the contention regarding the loan from Teja Begum independent of his account books.

(3) The income from the property was determined at Rs. 1,200 adopting the property income as disclosed in the previous year. It was necessary to redetermine the property income in the light of the complete net wealth statements and capital accretion of the assessee.

(4) The statements filed by the assessee take into account agricultural income to the extent of Rs. 11,000 per year. In the year 1954-55, the assessee had denied the ownership of orchards. The record did not indicate the date of purchase of the orchard in 1956-57 during which year the ownership of the orchards had been shown. Since the statement filed by the assessee started with the capital declared on February 28, 1956, it was necessary to know the actual date of purchase of the orchard in 1956-57.

(5) In order to make a proper appreciation of the statements filed by the assessee, it was necessary for the Income-tax Officer to bring on record the extent and nature of agricultural holdings and agricultural operations for each year to which the statements related and the income which is taken into account for the purpose of explaining the capital accretion on March 31, 1966.

6. Against this order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, the assessee preferred an appeal before the Tribunal and urged two main contentions, namely: (1) that it was not open to the Income-tax Officer to investigate into the source of the amounts which had been declared under section 24 of the Finance Act; and (2) that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had acted in excess of his powers in directing the Income-tax Officer to make a fresh assessment, in respect of the sources of income which had not been considered by the Income-tax Officer in the reassessment proceedings or which related to the assessment years other than the year 1966-67. The Tribunal did not accept these contentions and upheld the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner but at the instance of the assessee the Tribunal has referred the three questions (supra) to this court.

7. We shall first proceed to consider whether the Income-tax Officer was right in treating the amount of Rs. 80,000 as income of the assessee from undisclosed sources. It is not disputed that Teja Begum, Nazir Ahmed and Javeed Ahmad had made declarations on January 25, 1966, of the amounts of Rs. 20,000, 35,000 and 25,000, respectively, under section 24(1) of the Finance Act, and that they were assessed on the amounts declared by them in accordance with the provisions of the Finance Act. According to the declarations made by these persons, the amounts declared by them represented the income which had been earned by them before March 31, 1964. According to the assessee these amounts were borrowed by him on September 6, 1965. Neither the Income-tax Officer nor the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had required the assessee to have these loans confirmed by the creditors. Both of them obviously did not think it necessary to have these cash credits confirmed by the creditors in view of the fact that the creditors were no other than the wife and the minor sons of the assessee. Both the Income-tax Officer as well as the Appellate Assistant Commissioner were, however, of the view that the amount of Rs. 80,000 did not represent the income of the creditors as they had no independent source of income and that the amount represented the assessee's own income. In other words, they disregarded the declarations made by the creditors under the Finance Act and reinvestigated the source of income of the declarants and on such reinvestigation came to the conclusion that the amount declared by the declarants was really the income of the assessee. The contention of the assessee before the Tribunal was that it was not open to the Income-tax Officer or the Appellate Assistant Commissioner to disregard the declarations made by the declarant's under the Finance Act and to reinvestigate the source of the declared income. The real controversy between the assessee and the revenue was whether it was open to the department to investigate into the source of the declared amounts, when the declared amounts were shown as having been borrowed by the assessee from the declarants.

8. Having regard to the real controversy between the assessee and the revenue on this point, we feel that question No. 2 (supra) has not been properly framed by the Tribunal, as it does not bring out the real controversy between the parties. We, therefore, reframe the question as follows:

“Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was right in law in upholding the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner with regard to the addition of Rs. 80,000 as the undisclosed income of the assessee?”

9. The answer to the above question involves the interpretation of the provisions of section 24(1) of the Finance Act, the relevant provision being as follows:

“24. (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, where any person makes, on or after the 19th day of August, 1965, and before the 1st day of April, 1966, a declaration in accordance with sub-section (2) in respect of the amount representing income chargeable to tax under the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, or the Income-tax Act, 1961, for any assessment year commencing on or before the 1st day of April, 1964—

(a) for which he has failed to furnish a return within the time allowed under section 22 of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, or section 139 of the Income tax Act, 1961, or

(b) which he has failed to disclose in a return of income filed by him on or before the 19th day of August, 1965, under the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, or the Income-tax Act, 1961, or

(c) which has escaped assessment by reason of the omission or failure on the part of such person to make a return under either of the said Acts to the Income-tax Officer or to disclose fully and truly all material facts necessary for his assessment,

he shall, notwithstanding anything contained in the said Acts, be charged income-tax in accordance with sub-section (3) in respect of the amount so declared or if more than one declaration has been made by a person the aggregate of the amounts declared therein as reduced by any amount specified in any order made under sub-section (4) or if such amount is altered by an order of the Board under sub-section (6), then, such altered amount (hereafter in this section referred to as the voluntarily disclosed income)……

(3) Income-tax shall be charged on the amount of the voluntarily disclosed income—

(a) where the declarant is a person other than a company, at the rates specified in paragraph A, and

(b) where the declarant is a company, at the rates specified in paragraph F,

of Part I of the First Schedule to the Finance Act, 1965, as if such amount were the total income of the declarant, so, however, that,—

(i) the proviso to the said paragraph A or, as the case may be, the second proviso to the said paragraph F, shall not apply;

(ii) where the declarant is a person other than a company, the voluntarily disclosed income shall be deemed to be earned income;

(iii) where the declarant is a company, the voluntarily disclosed income shall be deemed to consist of income other than income by way of royalties or fees for rendering technical services or profits and gains derived from the business of generation or distribution of electricity or any other form of power or of construction, manufacture or production of any article or thing or of processing of goods or mining; and

(iv) where the declarant is a firm, it shall be deemed to be an unregistered firm………

(9) Any amount of income-tax paid in pursuance of a declaration made under this section shall not be refundable in any circumstances and no person who has made the declaration shall be entitled, in respect of the voluntarily disclosed income or any amount of tax paid thereon, to reopen any assessment or reassessment made under the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, or the Income-tax Act, 1961, or the Excess Profits Act, 1940, or the Business Profits Tax Act, 1947, or the Super Profits Tax Act, 1963, or the Companies (Profits) Surtax Act, 1964, or claim any set-off or relief in any appeal, reference, revision or other proceeding in relation to any such assessment or reassessment.

(10)(a) The amount of the voluntarily disclosed income shall not be included in the total income of the declarant for any assessment year under any of the Acts mentioned in sub-section (9) if he has credited such amount in the books of account, if any, maintained by him for any source of income or in any other record.

(b) The credit made shall be intimated by the declarant to the Income-tax Officer.

(11) Notwithstanding anything contained hereinabove or in any other law for the time being in force, nothing contained in any declaration made under this section shall be admissible as evidence against the declarant for the purpose of any assessment proceeding or any proceeding relating to imposition of penalty or for the purpose of prosecution under any of the Acts mentioned in sub-section (9) or the Wealth-tax Act, 1957, in respect of any amount specified in an order made by the Commissioner under sub section (4) or, if such amount is altered by an order of the Board under sub-section (6), then, such altered amount………

(15) The Commissioner shall on an application by the declarant grant a certificate to him setting forth the particulars of the voluntarily disclosed income and the amount of income-tax paid in respect of the same and the date of payment:…”

10. Section 24 of the Finance Act is commonly known as the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme of 1965. The main features of this scheme are that it enables persons who had not disclosed their income in the earlier years and had thus escaped assessment on such income to declare such income and pay tax on such income according to the special concessional rate prescribed under the scheme. The amounts so declared are accepted by the department without any investigation regarding the source and these amounts are treated as the income of the declarant for the assessment year commencing on the 1st day of April, 1965. The tax which is paid by the declarant is not refundable under any circumstance. The amount declared cannot be included in the income of the declarant for any other assessment year, nor can it be added to the total income of the declarant for the same assessment year so as to subject such total income to a higher rate of tax. The amount declared is treated under a separate head and taxed at the rate prescribed under the scheme.

11. It, therefore, follows that it really makes no difference whether the amount declared by a person really represents his income or represents the income of any other person. A person would not gain anything by declaring his income in the name of any other person. It makes no difference whether he brings the declared amount into his own books in the next year in his own name or whether he brings it into his books as cash credits in the name of the declarants.

12. In the present case the assessee could have declared the amount of Rs. 80,000 in his own name and brought it into his books in the assessment year under reference. In such an event, it would not be open to the revenue to treat this income as the assessee's income from undisclosed sources; the voluntary disclosure scheme would operate as a bar. We do not see why the position should be different when the amount in question was declared in the name of the assessee's wife and minor sons and brought into his books as cash credits.

13. There is a difference of opinion between some of the High Courts on the interpretation of section 24 of the Finance Act, In Manilal Gafoorbhai Shah v. Commissioner Of Income-Tax, Gujarat, [1974] 95 ITR 624 (Guj), the Gujarat High Court held that the immunity against the investigation of the source of the declared income was given to the declarant and not to another person and that it was open to the department while making assessment of that person to investigate into the source of the declared amount.

14. A similar view was expressed by the Allahabad High Court in Badri Pd. & Sons v. Commissioner of Income-tax, [1975] 98 ITR 657 (All) and that High Court observed that the Finance Act of 1965 neither intended nor had the effect of converting the income belonging to the person behind the screen into the income of the declarant.

15. The Delhi High Court, however, took a different view in Rattan Lal & Others…Petitioners v. Income Tax Officer Etc.…S, [1975] 98 ITR 681 (Delhi). (It may be stated that one of us, namely, Ansari C.J, was a party to that judgment while he was a judge of the Delhi High Court). The Delhi High Court observed that by the use of a legal fiction introduced in sub-section (3) by the use of the words “as if such amount was the total income of the declarant” the amount so declared is turned into his total income and such income is charged to income-tax at the prescribed rates. The High Court then referred to the principle enunciated by the Supreme Court in Commissioner Of Income Tax, Delhi v. S. Teja Singh , [1959] 35 ITR 408, 413 (SC), viz.:

“It is a rule of interpretation well-settled that in construing the scope of a legal fiction it would be proper and even necessary to assume all those facts on which alone the fiction can operate.”

16. Following this principle the High Court observed as follows [1975] 98 ITR 681, 690-91 (Delhi):

“If, therefore, the declared amount becomes under the Finance Act the total income of the declarant for the purpose of charging income-tax on it, it cannot be the income of someone else also for the same purpose of again charging income-tax on it. The legal fiction created by sub-section (3), therefore, finally imprints on the sum declared the character of ‘total income’ of the declarant and the finality is achieved by enacting that the income-tax paid as a result of the declaration shall not be refunded in any circumstances.”

17. With respect we agree with the reasoning of the Delhi High Court and we, therefore, hold that it was not open to the Income-tax Officer to investigate into the source of the cash credits amounting to Rs. 80,000 standing in the books of the assessee in the names of his wife and two minor sons. We, therefore, answer question No. 2, as reframed by us, in the negative, i.e, in favour of the assessee and against the revenue.

18. The first question referred to us relates to the powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner. The powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner are defined in section 251 of the Act (corresponding to section 31(3) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922). Section 251(1)(a) is the relevant provision and it reads as follows:

“In disposing of an appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner shall have the following powers-—

(a) in an appeal against an order of assessment, he may confirm, reduce, enhance or annul the assessment; or he may set aide the assessment and refer the case back to the Income-tax Officer for making a fresh assessment in accordance with the directions given by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and after making such further inquiry as may be necessary, and the Income-tax Officer shall thereupon proceed to make such fresh assessment and determine, where necessary, the amount of tax payable on the basis of such fresh assessment……

Explanation.— In disposing of an appeal, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner may consider and decide any matter arising out of the proceedings in which the order appealed against was passed, notwithstanding that such matter was not raised before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner by the appellant.”

19. The scope of the powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner has been explained by the Supreme Court in a number of cases and it would be sufficient to refer only to some of them. In Commissioner Of Income Tax v. Mcmillan & Co, [1958] 33 ITR 182, 193 (SC) the Supreme Court gave its approval to the following observations of Chagla C.J in Narrondas Manor class v. Commissioner of Income-tax, [1957] 31 ITR 909 (Bom):

“‘It is clear that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner has been constituted a revising authority against the decisions of the Income-tax Officer; a revising authority not in the narrow sense of revising what is the subject-matter of the appeal, not in the sense of revising those matters about which the assessee makes a grievance, but a revising authority in the sense that once the appeal is before him he can revise not only the ultimate computation arrived at by the Income-tax Officer but he can revise every process which led to the ultimate computation or assessment. In other words, what he can revise is not merely the ultimate amount which is liable to tax, but he is entitled to revise the various decisions given by the Income-tax Officer in the course of the assessment and also the various incomes or deductions which came in for consideration of the Income-tax Officer.”

20. The above observations of Chagla C.J in Narrondas's case, [1957] 31 ITR 909 (Bom), which were quoted with approval by the Supreme Court in McMillan's case, [1958] 33 ITR 182 (SC) emphasized the wide powers conferred upon the Appellate Assistant Commissioner but they did not emphasize the limitations placed upon such powers. These limitations were considered by the Supreme Court in a later case, namely, Commissioner of Income-tax v. Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, [1962] 44 ITR 891, 895 (SC). After referring to the observations of Chagla C.J and the approval given by the Supreme Court in McMillan's case, [1958] 33 ITR 182 (SC), Hidayatullah J. proceeded to observe as follows:

“In our opinion, this court must be held not to have expressed its final opinion on the point arising here, in view of what was stated at pages 709 and 710 of the report. This court, however, gave approval to the opinion of the learned Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court that section 31 of the Income-tax Act confers not only appellate powers upon the Appellate Assistant Commissioner in so far as he is moved by an assessee but also a revisional jurisdiction to revise the assessment with a power to enhance the assessment. So much, of course, follows from the language of the section itself. The only question is whether in enhancing the assessment for any year he can travel outside the record, that is to say, the return made by the assessee and the assessment order passed by the Income-tax Officer with a view to finding out new sources of income, not disclosed in either. It is contended by the Commissioner of Income-tax that the word ‘assessment’ here means the ultimate amount which an assessee must pay, regard being had to the charging section and his total income. In this view, it is said that the words, ‘enhance the assessment’ are not confined to the assessment reached through a particular process but the amount which ought to have been computed if the true total income had been found. There is no doubt that this view is also possible. On the other hand, it must not be overlooked that there are other provisions like sections 34 and 33B, which enable escaped incoome from new sources to be brought to tax after following a special procedure. The assessee contends that the powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner extend to matters considered by the Income-tax Officer, and if a new source is to be considered, then the power of remand should be exercised. By the exercise of the power to assess fresh sources of income, the assessee is deprived of a finding by two Tribunals and one right of appeal.

The question is whether we should accept the interpretation suggested by the Commissioner in preference to the one, which has held the field for for nearly 37 years. In view of the provisions of sections 34 and 33B by which escaped income can be brought to tax, there is reason to think that the view expressed uniformly about the limits of the powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner to enhance the assessment has been accepted by the legislature as the true exposition of the words of the section. If it were not, one would expect that the legislature would have amended section 31 and specified the other intention in express words. The Income-tax Act was amended several times in the last 37 years, but no amendment of section 31(3) was undertaken to nullify the rulings, to which we have referred. In view of this, we do not think that we should interpret section 31 differently from what has been accepted in India as its true import, particularly as that view is also reasonably possible.”

21. The limitations placed upon the powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner were again explained by the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Income-tax v. Rai Bahadur Hardutroy Motilal Chamaria, [1967] 66 ITR 443, 450, 451 (SC) in the following words:

“The principle that emerges as a result of the authorities of this court is that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner has no jurisdiction, under section 31(3) of the Act, to assess a source of income which has not been processed by the Income-tax Officer and which is not disclosed either in the returns filed by the assessee or in the assessment order, and, therefore, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner cannot travel beyond the subject-matter of the assessment. In other words, the power of enhancement under section 31(3) of the Act is restricted to the subject-matter of assessment or the source of income which have been considered expressly or by clear implication by the Income-tax Officer from the point of view of the taxability of the assessees………… As we have already stated, it is not open to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner to travel outside the record, i.e, the return made by the assessee or the assessment order of the Income-tax Officer with a view to find out new sources of income and the power of enhancement under section 31(3) of the Act is restricted to the sources of income which have been the subject-matter of consideration by the Income-tax Officer from the point of view of taxability. In this context ‘consideration’ does not mean ‘incidental’ or ‘collateral’ examination of any matter by the Income-tax Officer in the process of assessment. There must be something in the assessment order to show that the Income-tax Officer applied his mind to the particular subject-matter or the particular source of income with a view to its taxability or to its non-taxability and not to any incidental connection.”

22. It is the contention of the assessee that when the Appellate Assistant Commissioner directed the Income-tax Officer to make a fresh assessment with regard to certain items of income, he had acted in excess of the powers conferred on him under section 251(1) of the Act. It is pointed out that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had directed the Income-tax Officer to redetermine the property income of the assessee on the basis of the entire wealth statements and the capital accretion of the assessee. It is then pointed out that the addition of Rs. 29,464 by the Income-tax Officer as the income of the assessee from undisclosed sources had not been challenged by the assessee in appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and that despite that fact the Appellate Assistant Commissioner directed the Income-tax Officer to redetermine the amount which may be added to the income of the assessee from other sources. It is further pointed out that while directing the Income-tax Officer to redetermine the agricultural income of the assessee for the assessment year 1966-67, the Appellate Assistant Commissioner had directed the Income-tax Officer to bring on record the extent and nature of agricultural holdings and agricultural operations for the earlier years also. These directions, according to the assessee, were beyond the powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner.

23. A perusal of the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner leaves one in doubt whether it is an order passed in favour of the assessee or against him. According to the grounds of appeal filed by the assessee before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner, which is annexure “J” to the statements of the case, the only contention raised by the assessee before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was that the addition of Rs. 80,000 to the income of the assessee as income from undisclosed sources was not justified in view of the declarations made by the creditors under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme of 1965. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner, while upholding the action of the Income-tax Officer in principle, however, directed the Income-tax Officer to give the assessee an opportunity to prove the loan from Teja Begum independent of the books. In view of our answer to the second question as reframed by us, this direction by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner becomes unnecessary. The Appellate Assistant Commissioner has set aside the order of the Income-tax Officer primarily under a misconception that the assessment was made without issue of a notice under section 143(2) of the Act. The assessment order of the Income-tax Officer would clearly show that a notice under section 143(2) was served on the assessee and the latter had appeared before the Income-tax Officer along with his books of account, etc., and that it was only after hearing the assessee that the assessment was completed. As a matter of fact, the assessee had not made a grievance in his grounds of appeal before the Appellate Assistant Commissioner that no notice under section 143(2) was served upon him or that he was not given an opportunity of being heard by the Income-tax Officer. Therefore, the direction given by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner that the assessment should be made again after giving notice under section 143(2) was not justified.

24. As regards the objection of the assessee against the direction given by the Appellate Assistant Commissioner for redetermining the addition of Rs. 29,464 under other sources, we do not find anything in the order of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner specifically directing the Income-tax Officer to redetermine this amount. Therefore, the apprehension of the assessee that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner has given a direction to the Income-tax Officer to redetermine the income of the assessee under other sources appears to be unfounded.

25. As regards the direction of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner for redetermining the income from the property, it is certainly open to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner to give such a direction, because, this is not a new source of income which had not been considered by the Income-tax Officer. But, to the extent that the Appellate Assistant Commissioner has directed the Income-tax Officer to redetermine the income from property on the basis of material which was not considered by the Income-tax Officer like the net wealth statement and the capital accretion of the assessee or the income from agricultural property for the earlier assessment years, it is clearly outside the scope of the powers of the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and the direction given by him in this behaif should be ignored by the Income-tax Officer. We answer question No. 1 in the following manner:

While the Appellate Assistant Commissioner was legally competent to set aside the assessment and direct the Income-tax Officer to make a fresh assessment with regard to income from the sources which had been considered by the Income-tax Officer, he was not legally competent to direct the Income-tax Officer to make assessment in respect of sources which were not considered by the Income-tax Officer nor on the basis of material which had not been considered by the Income-tax Officer.

26. Our answer to question No. 3 is covered by our answers to questions Nos. 1 and 2. We do not propose to give a separate answer to question No. 3.

27. We make no order as to costs.

Mian Jalaluddin, J.:— I agree.