Judgment

Kapadia, J.—The question which arises for determination in this civil appeal filed by the department is — whether the department was right in rejecting the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme declarations filed by the respondent-assessee on the ground that the assessments had become final in the year 1992-93 (when the assessee’s appeals were dismissed for failure to pre-deposit self-assessed tax) and that the respondent herein had filed revisions under the Income Tax Act and Wealth Tax Act in November/December, 1998 only to obtain the benefit of Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme, 1998, which came into force w.e.f. 1.9.1998. According to the department, the revisions filed by the assesee were time barred and as such they were not “pending” in terms of section 95(i)(c) of the said Scheme.

2. The undisputed facts which lie within a very narrow compass are as follows :

In respect of assessment years 1984-85 to 1991-92, the assessee was liable to pay tax under assessment orders passed vide section 143(3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and also under the assessment orders passed under the Wealth Tax Act, 1957.

3. Being aggrieved by the assessment orders, the assessee herein, preferred appeals to the Co