STATE OF TAMIL NADU Vs. N MUTHALAGIRISAMI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ALL these tax revision petitions preferred by the State against the orders of the Agricultural Income-tax Appellate Tribunal relate to five assessment years 1963-64 to 1967-68. In all these cases, the assessee filed voluntarily the returns of income on January 19, 1969. The Agricultural Income-tax Officer estimated the income and assessed the same to tax. The assessee put forward the contention that since the returns were filed by him after the expiry of the assessment years relevant to the previous years, no assessment could have been made without reference to section 35 of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1955 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). The Tribunal accepted this contention and allowed the appeals preferred by the respondent herein. Hence, the present tax revision petitions by the State It is necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of the Act. It is section 16 which deals with filing of return of income. Sub-section (1) of that section states"Every person who held land in excess of the exempted extent at any time during the previous year shall, unless he has been permitted to compound the tax under section 65, furnish to the Agricultural Income-tax Officer so as to reach him before the 1st June every year a return in the prescribed form and verified in the prescribed manner setting forth his total agricultural income during the previous year." *Sub-section (2) deals with the case where the Agricultural Income-tax Officer may serve a notice on the assessee to file a return. Sub-section (3) states"If any person has not furnished a return within the time allowed by or under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) or, having furnished a return under any of those sub-sections discovers any omission or wrong statement therein, he may furnish a return or a revised return, as the case may be, at any time before the assessment is made." *Section 17 of the Act deals with the procedure for making the assessment after a return has been filed. Section 35 deals with assessment of escaped income.

(2.) THAT section states"If for any reason agricultural income chargeable to tax under this Act has escaped assessment in any financial year or has been assessed at too low a rate or has been under-assessed, the Agricultural Income-tax Officer may, at any time, within five years of the end of that year serve on the person liable to pay the tax or, in the case of a company, on the principal officer thereof a notice containing all or any of the requirements which may be included in a notice under sub-section (2) of section 16 and may proceed to assess or reassess such income, and the provisions of this Act shall, so far as may be, apply accordingly as if the notice were a notice issued under that sub-sectionProvided that the tax shall be charged at the rate at which it would have been charged if such income had not escaped assessment or full assessment, as the case may be." *Thus, it will be seen that section 16(1) contemplates filing of a voluntary return within the time prescribed in that sub-section. Section 16(2) contemplates the Agricultural Income-tax Officer serving a notice on the assessee calling upon him to file a return within the time mentioned therein. Section 35 deals with a case where income has escaped assessment and the officer wants to assess that income and, therefore, he issues a notice as contemplated by section 16(2) and, thereafter, proceeds to make an assessment under section 35. Therefore, the very basis of section 35 is that there has been no return filed by the assessee or a return has been filed which did not disclose the real income of the assessee, and that is the reason why the section enables the Agricultural Income-tax Officer to issue a notice under section 16(2) calling upon the assessee to file a return. If the assessee has voluntarily filed a return, there is no question of the Agricultural Income-tax Officer acting under section 35 and serving a notice under section 16(2) calling upon the assessee to submit the return. As we pointed out already, in the present case, in respect of the five years with which we are concerned, the assessee voluntarily filed returns on January 19, 1969. Even though those returns were not filed within the time prescribed by section 16(1), still they are returns filed in accordance with the provisions of the Act, because section 16(3) enables an assessee to file a return at any time before the assessment is completed even though the time prescribed under section 16(1) and (2) had already elapsed.