HAKAM SINGH Vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THERE are five petitioners in this writ petition. They have been assessed to income-tax as an association of persons. They are aggrieved by the dismissal of their application under Section 273A of the I.T. Act by the CIT. The petitioners had applied for waiver or reduction of penalty. The Commissioner dismissed the application on the ground that the returns filed by the petitioners were not voluntary.

(2.) IT appears that on 22nd November, 1973, the business premises of Messrs. Popular Transport Agency and Messrs. Gupta Service Station were searched by the I.T. department, and certain books were seized. Kartar Singh was a partner in those firms. Kartar Singh is one of the members of the petitioner-association of persons. The petitioner-association on 7th October, 1974, filed returns of income for the assessment years 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1969-70, 1972-73 and 1973-74. Subsequently, on 25th March, 1975, a notice under Section 148 of the I.T. Act was served on the petitioners. In due course, the ITO initiated penalty proceedings for delay in filing the return and for not filing the estimate of advance tax under Sections 271(1)(a) and 273(b). Thereupon the petitioners applied to the Commissioner under Section 273A for waiver or reduction of the imposable penalty. The Commissioner, by the impugned order, dismissed the application on the finding that the filing of the returns was not voluntary. He held that it is admitted that "a search operation was carried out and the books of account of the A.O.P. were seized. In other words, the premises where the books of account of the A.O.P. were kept were searched. IT is further admitted that the returns were filed after the search. IT, therefore, follows that the returns were not filed voluntarily".

(3.) THE Commissioner appears to have accepted and followed the interpretation put by the Board on the word "voluntary", He has held that, since on a search, books of account of the association of persons were seized and the returns were filed long after the search, they were prompted by a sense of fear and so they were not voluntary.