SETH BROTHERS Vs. COMMISSIONER OF INCOME-TAX

JUDGEMENT

(1.) M/s. Seth Brothers through Manmohau Nath, one of the partners of the said concern, have filed this petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India for the issuance of a writ in the nature of mandamus requiring the respondents to return the books seized between the dates 7th of June, 1963, to llth of June, 1963, from the premises of the Imperial Flour Mills, Ambala City.

(2.) THE petitioner is a registered partnership firm and at the relevant time was constituted by Vishwa Nath, Baikunth Nath, Mrs. Rama Rani and Mrs. Prem Lata, Manmohan Nath and Mrs. Sushila Devi. The firm was started with effect from 1st of April, 1957, with its head office at Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh, and was being assessed by the Income-tax Officer, Meerut, under G. I. R. No. 137-G. The sole business of the firm was to run the Imperial Flour Mills, Ambala City, which was being run between the period 1st of April, 1956, to the 31st of March, 1957, constituted by five partners except Mrs. Prem Lata, referred to above. This firm had its head office at Ambala and was being assessed by the Income-tax Officer, Ambala, under G. T. R. No. 133-B. The petitioner-firm ceased to carry on the business after 31st of March, 1965, and up to March 31, 1965, all the returns were filed from the 1st of April, 1957, to the end of the assessment year 1965-66.

(3.) IT is further averred that on 7th of June, 1963, the Income-tax Officer, " C " Ward, Ambala, the Income-tax Officer, Special Investigation Circle, Ambala, the Income-tax Officer, " A" Ward, Ambala, and the Income-tax Officer, Ambala, visited the Imperial Flour Mills, Ambala, under the directions of the Commissioner of Income-tax, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir at Patiala, along with six inspectors and a posse of police and after surrounding the Imperial Flour Mills, served the letter of authorisations which had been issued in favour of these officers by the then Commissioner of Income-tax, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, at Patiala, in Form No. 45 given in the Rules framed under the Income-tax Act. The account books and other documents which were lying in the premises of the mill were packed in gunny bags and were removed from there. Some details, with which we are not concerned, are given in the petition about the proceedings which the petitioners took thereafter ; but the only fact that needs mention is that all the documents which had been seized from the premises of the Imperial Flour Mills at Ambala, between 7th of June, 1963, and 11th of June, 1963, barring the current books and those which were returned voluntarily by the department, have not yet been returned to the petitioners. It is this action of the respondents which has been challenged by way of this petition on various grounds stated in the petition.