Pritam Singh Pattar, J.

1. This is a petition made by the Commissioner of Income-tax, Patiala, under Section 256(2) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter called "the Act"), to direct the Income-tax Appellate Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh, to refer the following question of law for the opinion of this court:

"Whether, on the facts and in the circumstances of the case, the Appellate Tribunal was justified in law in deleting the penalty levied under Section 271(1)(a) of the Act ?"

2. The facts of this case are that the respondent-firm, Messrs R.B. Jodhamal Bishan Lal Kuthiala, Hoshiarpur, is a registered firm. Notice under Section 22(2) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, was served on the assessee on November 4, 1959, to file the return of income on or before December 8, 1959. The assessee filed its return of income for the assessment year 1959-60, on August 5, 1961, and thus there was a delay of 19 months in filing the return of income. The assessment was made on a total income of Rs. 12,03,324, which was reduced to Rs. 11,72,762 as a result of the appellate orders. As the assessee had failed to file its return within time, the Income-tax Officer after giving due