COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX Vs. MAHARAJ KRISHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ACCEPTING a prayer under S. 256(1) of the INCOME TAX ACT, 1961 (in short the "Act"), made by the Revenue, the Income -tax Appellate Tribunal (in short the "Tribunal"), has referred the following question for the opinion of this Court :

(2.) THE factual position as borne out from the statement of case is as follows : Mr. Maharaj Krishan (hereinafter referred to as the "assessee") had filed his return of income for the asst. year 1958 -59. The same was dealt with and an order of assessment was passed on 28th March, 1963. As there was delay in filing the return, the ITO directed, inter alia, in the assessment order as follows:

(3.) THE Tribunal observed that the Revenue authorities acted upon the first penalty notice served on the assessee. The said copy of the notice was shown to the Tribunal at the time of hearing. Unfortunately, the original records which were referred to by the AAC were not looked into by the Tribunal. With reference to the notice produced by the assessee, the Tribunal came to the conclusion that a proper charge has not been made in the notice for late submission of the return by the assessee and, therefore, validity of the proceedings were open to challenge.