K. VINOD CHANDRAN, J.

1. The appellant impugn the judgment of the learned Single Judge in a writ petition, which was filed without availing the appellate remedy as available in the statute. Suffice it to notice on facts that the appellant, a private limited Company, incorporated under the Companies Act, and in which the public are not substantially interested, issued shares at a premium above the face value. The appellant did not offer any amount so received as income for the purpose of taxation under the Income-tax Act. A notice under Section 143(2) was issued and the appellant is said to have disclosed the genuineness of the persons, who purchased the said shares on a premium. The Assessing Officer then attempted to tax the amounts so received under Section 56(2)(viib) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 [for brevity, the Act].

2. The appellant/assessee contended before the learned Single Judge that the notice issued was only with respect to the source from which the funds were received and the same having been disclosed, there was no scope for a further proceeding, especially under Section 56(2)(viib) of the Act. The provision would not be applicable unless the test under Section 68 of the Act is satisfied, is the further argument.

3. The learned Single Judge extracted the notice, which we also deem fit to extract here as evident in Ext.P1 as follows:

“Whether the funds received in the form of share premium are from disclosed sources and have been correctly offered for tax.”

4. The learned Single Judge found that there are two limbs to the notice; one as to the source and the other as to the amounts being correctly offered for tax. The attempt to tax the premium received was under the second limb was the finding. We do not think that there is any other reasonable view possible or a valid cause to have a different opinion on the words employed in the notice and there is no reason to interfere with the said finding.

5. We then notice Section 68 of the Act, which reads as follows:

“68. Where any sum is found credited in the books of an assessee maintained for any previous year, and the assessee offers no explanation about the nature and source thereof or the explanation offered by him is not, in the opinion of the Assessing Officer, satisfactory, the sum so credited may be charged to income tax as the income of the assessee of that previous year:

Provided that where the assessee is a company, (not being a company in which the public are substantially interested) and the sum so credited consists of share application money, share capital, share premium or any such amount by whatever name called, any explanation offered by such assessee-company shall be deemed to be not satisfactory, unless-

(a) the person, being a resident in whose name such credit is recorded in the books of such company also offers an explanation about the nature and source of such sum so credited; and

(b) such explanation in the opinion of the Assessing Officer aforesaid has been found to be satisfactory:

Provided further that nothing contained in the first proviso shall apply if the person, in whose name the sum referred to therein is recorded, is a venture capital fund or a venture capital company as referred to in clause (23FB) of Section 10.”

6. Section 68 of the Act as it stood before 2013 required treatment of any sum credited in the books of an assessee, when no explanation is offered or the explanation offered is not satisfactory, as charged to income-tax. The proviso above extracted was inserted by Finance Act, 2012, with effect from 01.04.2013 to Section 68, along with the insertion of clause (viib) of Section 56. We deem it fit that Section 56(2)(viib) also be extracted hereunder:

“56(viib) where a company, not being a company in which the public are substantially interested, receives, in any previous year, from any person being a resident, any consideration for issue of shares that exceeds the face value of such shares, the aggregate consideration received f