K V SRINIVASAN Vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner is the owner of a house and premises No. 28/5, Chamiers Road, Madras-28. On August 1, 1970, he entered into an agreement with Sri Annamalai Mudaliar, residing at No, 27, Padavatta Amman Koil Street, Madras-7, for the sale of the property for Rs. 60,000. One of the terms of the agreement is that the petitioner should register the sale either in the name of Sri Annamalai Mudaliar or in the name of any one of his nominees, if the petitioner is asked to do. But, as the value of the property exceeds Rs. 50,000 the petitioner is obliged in law to obtain a certificate under Section 230A of the Income-tax Act, 1961, from the Income-tax Officer of the division concerned certifying that he has paid the tax payable by him under law and has also satisfied the other prescriptions in Section 230A of the Act. According to the petitioner, when he satisfies the Income-tax Officer that he has paid the taxes under the various taking statutes of our country and as enumerated in Section 230A(1), he is automatically entitled to the certificate from the Income-tax Officer without any more obligation on his part to do any further act to fill up any other Form as prescribed in the Rules framed under the Act. In particular, he refers to Form No. 34A prescribed in which the petitioner has to make his application for obtaining a certificate under Section 230A of the Act.

(2.) IT is not in dispute that Form 34A in Appendix II of the Income-tax Rules is a Form which is prescribed under Rule 44A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. The petitioner is not questioning in these petitions either the validity of the parent provision Section 230A or Rule 44A of the Income-tax Rules, 1962, or even the substantive portion of Form 34A in Appendix II of the Income-tax Rules. On the other hand, the petitioner is seeking for the issue of a writ of certiorari to quash items Nos. 14 and 17 in Form 34A referred to above as ultra vires of Section 230A of the Income-tax Act. In the main, therefore, the contention of the petitioner is that he is prepared to submit an application in Form 34A, but without filling items Nos. 14 and 17 as he is not obliged to fill them up, that, when he is not enjoined to fill up these items in Form 34A, the first respondent is bound in law to issue the certificate, and that, as there is a public duty on the part of the first respondent to issue a certificate contemplated in Section 230A without calling for filling up items 14 and 17, a writ of mandamus is to issue to compel him to render the certificate. The learned counsel for the petitioner, after referring to the statutory provisions, states that, once the petitioner satisfies the requirements of Section 230A(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961, there is no further obligation on his part and there arises a contemporaneous responsibility on the part of the first respondent to issue a tax clearance certificate for registration of the document without asking for further information, to wit, completion of items 14 and 17 in the Form referred to above.