INCOME TAX OFFICER Vs. SHAJAHAN M

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are appeals taken by the revenue from the judgment in O.Ps. Nos. 2453, 2460 and 2467 of 1975* which were allowed by the judgment under appeals in these cases. By that judgment an order which has been produced in O.P. No. 2453 of 1975 (W.A. No. 291 of 1975) as exhibit P-l purporting to have been passed by the authorised officer under Sub-section (3) of Section 132 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, for short, " the Act ", has been set aside by the learned judge. The question that arises in these appeals, though they relate to three different assessees, is the same; the ambit and scope of the powers of the 'authority entitled to pass an order under Sub-section (3) of Section 132 of the Act.

(2.) BEFORE we proceed further we shall extract the relevant parts of Section 132 which are Sub-sections (1), (2), (3), (5) and (7);

(3.) TO state the necessary facts, we have to mention that the 1st respondent in Writ Appeal No. 291 of 1975, his wife, the 1st respondent in Writ Appeal No. 292 of 1975, and his son, the 1st respondent in Writ Appeal No. 293 of 1975, were carrying on the business of motor transport. They have accounts with the 2nd respondent in each of these appeals, the Federal Bank, Punalur. The Commissioned, in consequence of information received, recorded that he has reason to believe that the 1st respondent in Writ Appeal No. 291 of 1975 was in possession of money which represented wholly or partly income which had not been disclosed for the purpose of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, or the Act. He, therefore, authorised the Income-tax Officer, the 1st appellant in these appeals, to enter and search the residence cf the 1st respondent in W.A. No. 291 of 1975 with whom the 1st respondents in W.As. Nos. 292 arid 293 of 1975 were staying. At the time of the search, the Income-tax Officer, hereinafter referred to as the " authorised officer ", came across certain pass books in the names of the 1st respondent in each of these appeals, with the 2nd respondent-bank, indicating that certain amounts were in deposit in the bank. These pass books were seized and it is after such seizure that the order, exhibit P-l, which we have extracted, has been issued under Sub-section (3) of Section 132 of the Act.