ARVIND KUMAR Vs. INCOME TAX OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE order in this case will also govern the disposal of Miscellaneous Petition No. 398 of 1981. By these petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have prayed that notices issued to the petitioners by the respondent, ITO, Dewas, under Section 148 of the I.T. Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") be quashed.

(2.) THE material facts giving rise to these petitions, briefly, are as follows:

(3.) AS held by the Supreme Court in Kantamani Venkata Narayana and Sons v. First Addl. ITO [1967] 63 ITR 638, in proceedings under Article 226 of the Constitution of India challenging the jurisdiction of the ITO to issue a notice under Section 148 of the Act, the High Court is only concerned to decide whether the conditions, which invested the ITO with power to reopen the assessment, did exist. It is also well settled that though the sufficiency of the grounds, which induced the ITO to act, is not a justiciable issue, it is open to the court to examine the question whether the reasons for the belief have a rational connection or a relevant bearing to the formation of the belief and are not extraneous or irrelevant to the purpose of Section 147 of the Act.