Srinivasa Iyengar, J.—These are two sets of references made under s. 27(1) of the W.T. Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), at the instance of the Commissioner of Wealth-tax and the assessee. The questions referred are four in number and relate to the penalties imposed under s. 18(1)(a) of the Act for default in filing the returns within the time without reasonable cause. The matter relates to the assessment years 1966-67, 1967-68 and 1968-69. T.R. Cs. No. 142, 144 and 146 of 1978 are at the instance of the department and the other three are at the instance of the assessee. The questions referred are as follows :

"(1) Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal was justified in entertaining the ground of the department that the appeals to the Appellate Assistant Commissioner and consequently the appeals to the Tribunal were incompetent ?

(2) If the answer to question No. (1) is in the affirmatives, whether the Tribunal, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, was justified in deciding that, once an order has been passed under section 18(2A) of the Wealth-tax Act by the Commissioner, the order of the Wealth-tax Officer was e