RAJAGOPAL C T Vs. STATE OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are two revision petitions preferred by a common assessee under section 55 of the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1957, hereinafter called "the Act", and they relate to the assessment years 1965-66 and 1966-67. The petitioner, hereinafter referred to as "the assessee", grows arecanuts which is a commercial crop liable to be assessed under the Act. For the assessment years 1965-66 and 1966-67 he filed returns under section 18(2) of the Act declaring the area of his land under arecanut cultivation as 4.27 acres in Bhimasamudra and Bettada Nagenahalli villages of Tumkur District. The said returns were accepted and the assessee was held not liable to tax by the orders of the Agricultural Income-tax Officer, Tumkur.

(2.) ON April 22, 1966, the said Agricultural Income-tax Officer issued two notices in identical terms purporting to be notices under section 36 of the Act for re-opening the assessments. It is sufficient if we set out the terms of one notice which reads thus :

(3.) SECTION 36 requires the Agricultural Income-tax Officer to serve a notice on the assessee containing all or any of the requirements which may be included in a notice under sub-section (2) of section 18 and then he may proceed to assess or reassess such income as escaped assessment. SECTION 18(2) provides for the issue of a notice requiring the assessee to furnish a return within such period not being less than 30 days as may be specified in the notice of his total agricultural income during the previous year. In the instant cases, the notices dated April 22, 1968, did not call upon the assessee to furnish the returns for the assessment years 1965-66 and 1966-67. All that the assessee was asked was to file his objections to the proposed reassessment.