MANEKLAL SAKARCHAND SHAH Vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE assessee is an individual earning his income from truck plying. He filed his return on 17th Nov., 1971, for the asst. year 1971 72. It is not disputed before us that the said return cannot be considered to have been filed under S. 139(1) of the Income tax Act, 1961 ('the Act' for short). It is considered to be a return filed under S. 139(4) of the Act, as it was not filed within time allowed. The assessee filed a revised return on 5th March, 1974, showing the additional income by disclosing the fact that during the relevant period he had sold his truck. The ITO passed an order on 7th Feb., 1975, and that order was challenged by the assessee before the AAC. Before the appellate authority, it was contended that the order passed by the ITO was beyond the prescribed time. The appellate authority rejected the said contention. Aggrieved by the said order of the appellate authority, the assessee preferred an appeal before the Tribunal. The Tribunal also rejected the said contention.

(2.) THEREAFTER , at the instance of the assessee, the following question is referred for the opinion of this Court under S. 256(1) of the Act :

(3.) AS against this, Mr. Shelat, learned counsel appearing for Revenue, vehemently submitted that the aforesaid instruction was not at all pointed out to the authorities below and, therefore, it should be ignored by this Court. He also submitted that there is no prohibition under Sub S. (4) of S. 139 to the effect that the assessee cannot file second or revised return after submitting first return. That is to say, there is no prohibition for submitting successive returns under S. 139(4) of the Act. Therefore, the assessment order passed by the ITO is within time from the date of submission of the subsequent return filed by the assessee under S. 139(4) of the Act. For this purpose, he relied upon the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in the case of CIT vs. Dr. N. Shrivastava (1988) 68 CTR (MP) 114 : (1988) 170 ITR 556 (MP).