ORDER :

1. Leave granted in all the Special Leave Petitions.

2. Since the facts involved in all these appeals are similar, we take Civil Appeal No. 7460 of 2013 @ S.L.P. (C) No. 3976 of 2010 as the lead case.

Civil Appeal No. 7460 of 2013 @ S.L.P. (C) No. 3976 of 2010:

3. This appeal by special leave is directed against the common judgment and order passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam in Writ Appeal No. 1854 of 2009 and other connected matters, dated 24.11.2009, whereby the Division Bench has dismissed the said Writ Appeals and Writ Petitions filed by the Appellant-Assessee(s) herein and upheld the judgments and orders of the learned Single Judge and notices issued under Section 133(6) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (for short 'the Act'), respectively.

4. Since the Appellant-Assessee(s) herein are similarly placed societies registered under the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act engaged in banking business, for brevity and convenience of reference, we would confine the discussion to factual matrix in the lead case. The Appellant-Assessee before us is a Service Co-operative Rural Bank. The Income Tax Officer (CIB), Calicut issued a notice bearing F. No. ITO (CIB)/Clt/2008-09 to the Assessee under Section 133(6) of the Act calling for general information regarding details of all persons (whether resident or non-resident) who have made (a) cash transactions (remittance, transfer, etc.) of Rs. 1,00,000/- and above in any account and/or (b) time deposits (FDs, RDs, TDs, etc.) of Rs. 1,00,000/- or above for the period of three years between 01.04.2005 and 31.03.2008, dated 02.02.2009. It was expressly stated therein that failure to furnish the aforesaid information would attract penal consequences. The Assessee objected to the said notice on grounds, inter alia, that such notice seeking for information which is unrelated to any existing or pending proceeding against the Assessee could not be issued under the provisions of the Act and requested for withdrawal of the said notice by its letter-in-reply, dated 26.02.2009. The Assessing Authority addressed to the objections raised by the Assessee and accordingly rejected them by letter dated 05.03.2009. The relevant paragraphs of the said letter are as under:

2. Your contention that this office does not enjoy the powers to call for information under Section 133(6)does not hold water in view of the Hon'ble High Court's judgment dated 24th December, 2002 in the case of M.V. Rajendran v. Income Tax Officer and Anr. reported in 260 ITR 442, wherein it is categorically stated that -

...The Department is free to ask for information about any particular person or to call for general information in regard to any matter they consider necessary. Section 133(6) does not refer to any enquiry about any particular person or Assessee, but pertains to the information of a general nature can be called for and names and addresses of the depositors who hold deposits above a particular sum is certainly permissible. In fact as the section presently stands Section 133(6) is a power of general survey and is not related to any person and no claim any immunity from furnishing such information...In the circumstances, I hold that the notices are within the powers of the officers who issued the same and the co-operative societies and co-operative banks are bound to furnish the particulars called for in the notices, failing which the Department will be free to conduct search or take penal action permissible under the Act.

Since the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala is the jurisdictional High Court and the decisions relied upon by you are superceded by the order of Hon'ble Kerala High Court, I failed to find any merit in your objection for not furnishing the information called for under Section 133(6). In this connection, you may also refer the following decisions of the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala -

1. 186 CTR 310 (Ker)

2. 263 ITR 161 (Kerala)

3. As can be seen from Para-1 above, the powers to initiate an inquiry, in a cas