JOTI PRASAD AGARWAL Vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE ten petitioners, who have filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution, were admittedly members of an association of persons known as the District Khand Kothiwal Association, Kasganj, which was formed under a scheme formulated by the Collector of Etah for distribution of khandsari sugar at controlled rates. THE Association functioned between the 8th of January, 1947, and 6-1-1948. Certain profits were earned by the Association during this period.

(2.) TWO of the grounds, on which those two orders were challenged and which were strenuously argued before us by learned counsel for the petitioners, did not appeal to us. The first ground was that, in fact, there was no association of persons within the meaning of that expression as used in Section 3 of the Indian Income-tax Act because the Association was not a voluntary association formed by the petitioners and other members but was an association in which they all joined under compulsion.

(3.) WE may also take notice of an argument advanced by learned counsel for the opposite party that this was not a fit case where this Court should exercise its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution as the Income-tax Act is a self-contained statute providing remedies for orders passed under that Act and the petitioners should nave sought their remedy under the Act itself. Learned counsel principally relied on a decision of the Punjab High Court, In re Lal Lachhman Dass Nayar, (1952) 22 ITR 418: (AIR 1953 Punj 55). The Punjab High Court, in that case, was dealing with the question whether a writ of certiorari could issue in respect of proceedings taken by an Income-tax Officer under Section 34 of the Income-tax Act and, when summarising its conclusions at about the end of the judgment, one of the learned Judges of that Court held that the principles applicable were