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INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, ALLAHABAD
H.L. KARWA, B.P. Jain, JJ.
Dr. Y.D. Singh B.R.D. Medical College -Appellant
Versus
Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax -Respondent
ITA NOS. 230 & 244/ALL./2002
Decided On : 09-05-2011
S.K. Garg,R.K. Upadhya
B.P. Jain, Accountant Member - These cross-appeals of the Revenue and the assessee arise from the order of the learned Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals)-II, Lucknow, dated March 22, 2002 for the block period April 1, 1988 to April 15, 1998.
2. Shri S. K. Garg, advocate, learned authorised representative for the assessee at the outset pointed out that the assessee has raised an additional ground which reads as under :
"Because there being no notice under section 143(2) having been issued by the Assessing Officer, after the assessee had filed block return on December 27, 1999, the entire variation between the income shown in the return and the undisclosed income as computed in the block assessment order dated July 28, 2000, is wholly unauthorised, illegal and consequently deserve to be deleted."
3. The same is admitted being a legal ground which can be raised at any time in view of the decision of the hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of National Thermal Power Co. Ltd. v. CIT [1998]
4. On behalf of the assessee, Sri. S. K. Garg, advocate and Sri Ashish Bansal, advocate appeared and it was vehemently contended that no notice under section 143(2) of the Act was ever served either on the assessee, Dr. Y. D. Singh or on Shri Murli Dhar Vaish, chartered accountant, who had been appearing in the block assessment proceedings. In order to highlight this contention, counsel for the assessee placed before us the chronology of events which are relevant for deciding the additional ground taken by the assessee. The same are as under :
| Date | Events |
| 14-4-1998 | Search and seizure action under section 132(1) was carried out at the residential premises of Dr. Y. D. Singh at 33 Kasia Road, Gorakhpur, in pursuance of warrant of authorisation dated April 8, 1998 issued by the Director of Income-tax (Inv.) Kanpur, and as per the panchanama prepared by the authorised officers, search was finally concluded on that date. |
| 15-4-1998 | Another warrant was issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax, Gorakhpur to carry out search at the bank locker No. 126 with the State Bank of India in the joint names of Dr. Y. D. Singh and Smt. Geeta Dutt (as per the information gathered from the panchanama) |
| 15-4-1998 | Another warrant was issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax, Gorakhpur to carry out search at the bank locker No. 70 with the State Bank of India, in the name of Dr. Y. D. Singh (as per the information gathered form the panchanama) |
| 16-4-1998 | In pursuance of said warrants, searches were carried out at the bank lockers. |
| 16-4-1998 | Restraint orders passed under section 132(3) for the operation of locker No. 70 with State Bank of India, Main branch, Gorakhpur, and locker No. 126 with State Bank of India, Railway Colony branch, Gorakhpur. |
| 15-6-1998 | The said restraint orders lapsed with the expiry of a period of 60 days as provided in section 132(8A). |
| 8-7-1998 | Intimation/notice for operation of the aforesaid lockers was received by the assessee. |
| 10-7-1998 | Panchanama was drawn in the case of Dr. Y. D. Singh and Smt. Geeta Dutt, and no seizure was made from locker No. 126. Other locker No.70 was found to be empty. |
| 19-8-1999 | Notice under section 158BC was issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Income-tax, Circle-I, Gorakhpur, in the name of Dr. Y. D. Singh, mentioning block period from 1-4-1988 to 10-07-1998, was served upon the assessee. |
| 1-11-1999 | Notice under section 142(1) read with section 158BC was issued by the Assessing Officer. |
| 27-12-1999 | After obtaining copies of seized material, block return in Form No. 2B was filed by Dr. Y. D. Singh showing nil income. |
| 8-2-2000 | Notice captioned as "notice under section 142(1) read with section 158BC" was issued by the Assessing Officer. |
| 22-5-2000 | An |
